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AMERICAN PRINCIPLES. 



9 



%/d 



REVIEW 

V 



WORKS OF FISHER AMES, 



. ^ na OAV) *^ -^ oV A Q 



tJOMJPII.EC £S 



*^ A NUMBER OF HIS FRIENDS. 



;?y />'. .^.w^/ 



FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOSTON PATRIOT 



« For I think it every man's indispensible duty to do all the 
« service he can to his country ; and I see not what difference he 
. « puts between himsalf and his cattle, who lives without that 
"thought," 



Locke. 



BOSTON : 

PUBLISHED BY EVERETT AND MUNROE. 
■^ « 

1809. 



4 

had yet dared to pledge his Hake in fociety to the dire£t 
and unqualified vindication of the Britilh pretenfions. In- 
directly they were indeed juilified ; and while Britain was 
heaping infolence upon injury in her treatment of this 
country, fhe was fupported by thefe Americans as the ex- 
alted champion of liberty, the defender of opprefTed na- 
tions, the laft hope of the human race*. But even the 
addreflers and reporters of the laft Maflachufetts Legiila- 
ture, (anxious as they were to foment the fpirit of fubfer- 
viency to Britain, urgent as they were to unfurl the repub- 
lican banners againft the imperial Jiandard^ intrepid as 
they were to threaten and organize internal war, in aid of 
the external enemy, againft our own government, ftrug- 
gling in defence of our own cause ; even they) Jhrunk 
from the formal juftification of the Britifti Orders of 
Council. 

But what no living ??ian could be perfuaded to do, the 
friends of Mr. Ames made him perform after his death. 
During his life-time he had never chofen to pledge his 
name to thofe dodrines ; and though he had given them 
too much countenance in namelefs newfpaper paragraphs 
and effays, he had manifefted a fteady unwillingnefs to 
avow them in the face of day. But fcarcely was he cold 
in his grave, when his name was doomed by his friends to 
ftand before the public, refponfible for the affertion, that 
on the moft momentous queftions at iflue between Britain 
and us, (he was right and we were wrong. Nor was this 
the only fatal error, promulgated in the pofthumous part 
of this volume. The unreafonable veneration of every 
thing connected with Britain — the exceflive abhorrence of 
every thing connedled with France — and the mixture of 

* An American Judge had even talked of the hnpressment of British subjects 
from American merchant vessels, as being agreeable to a right claimed and ex- 
ercised for ages, and hid undertaken to justify the British king's proclamation 
of October 16, 1807, under the pretence that it was merely an assertion of the 
nation's right to the service of its subjects in time of war. The orders in coun- 
cil too had been defended, as merely retaliatory upon France, and although some 
straining had been manifested at the name of tribute, yet it was found that the 
same thing might be swallowed with perfect ease under the name of a transii 
Auty. 



fcorn and contempt for his own country, which in his laft 
days were at the bafis of all his political opinions, were 
principles from which the moft mifchievous deduftions 
naturally flowed. The averfion to Republics and Repub- 
lican inftitutions — the bitter invective againft our popular 
elections — the humiliating dogma that our liberties de- 
pended upon nothing but the Britiih navy ; the terror, 
that his children would be taken for Bonaparte' , confcrip- 
tion to S.t. Domingo, were calculated as far as they could 
operate to fpread a contagion of falfe opinions upon ob- 
jects of the highefl moment to the people of this country. 
i\nd the danger of thefe falfe opinions was aggravated in 
proportion to the reverence for the talents and the refpeft 
for the perfonal character of the author, fo general 
throughout the community. The natural and indiffoluble 
connexion between thefe opinions, and the public mea- 
fures of thofe who dare not avow them, was material to be 
fhewn ; and the rancorous prejudices againft our fellow 
citizens in other parts of the Union, the contracted bafis 
of exclufive love, upon which political attachment was 
afferted to reft, the crude and undigefted notions of pa- 
triotifm, with the long argument to prove that it cannot 
exift in this country, nor in any Republic, were fo many 
potions of poifon for the public mind, which the writer of 
thefe papers fmcerely thinks, loudly called for an antidote, 
before they ftiould have time to circulate with all their 
venom, in the veins and arteries of the body politic. 

To defend the infulted reputation of our country, to 
vindicate from falfe afperfions the character of the nation, 
and its Republican inftitutions, to refute the groundlefs 
charges againft our children and our brethren of the Wef- 
tern and Southern States, to aflert the real foundation up- 
on which our Independence muft ftand, to maintain its 
RIGHTS againft the ruffian principles of the Britifli cabinet, 
and to guard the fenfe and fpirit of the people againft the 
miftakes of fancy ufurping upon the province of judgment, 
in the eftimates of political morality — fuch were the motives 
which dictated thefe papers. 



<^tt^ To hold up to public view the errors of an ingenious 
and amiable man, fo recently deceafed, was a tafk, painful 
to the feelings of the writer, and which nothing but the 
importance of the errors, and the danger of the impref- 
fions they were producing upon the public mind, could 
juflify. The moft exceptionable principles, and the moft 
important miftakes in point of faQ:, are quoted word 
for word from the volume itfelf. In no one inftance 
however has a quotation been made, which in its con- 
nexion with the other parts of the difcourfe would bear a 
different afped, from that which it bears in the feledion. 
For thefe wanderings of intelledl, it is abundantly manifeft 
upon the face of the volume, that Mr. Ames never meant 
to be refponfible to the public. They were intended 
for his feledl and exclufive friends. They furnifhed food 
for that modeft and generous opinion which they delight 
to entertain ; that all the virtue, and all the talents, as 
well as all the wealth of the American continent, is a 
monopoly of their own ; and that the reft of the peo» 
pie are a mere herd of Sodom, to be faved from the fire 
of Heaven only by their tranfcendent merits. So long as 
thefe maggots only crawled within the pale of the church, 
their mifchief was confined to the annoyance of occafional 
vifitors at the altar of the idol ; but v/hen thus ufhered 
abroad, they might have taken wing and fpread a plague 
of locufts over the land. 

It was then, an examination of the political fyftem of 
thefe felf-ftyled faviours of Sodom, which was propofed 
by the writer of the following papers. Their dodtrines 
had never been fo fully and explicitly avowed, by any 
man who had a charader to pledge. Like the priefts of 
Egypt, they had a revelation for the multitude, and a 
fecret for the initiated. In its plenitude of perfeftion, their 
creed was no where to be found in a tangible fhape* To 
make way for this mafs of illumination, the real wifdom 
and virtue of Mr. Ames*s beft days, his pubHc labou'-s as 
a ftatefman, at the organization of the federal government, 
his fpeeches openly made in the face of the country, the 



great and folid foundation of his honourable fame, were 
excluded from the compilation* Had the fame principles 
been fcrutinized as appearing in newfpaper paragraphs and 
anonymous pamphlets, the moment they were brought to 
the teft they would have been univerfally difavowed. For 
the holders of thefe tenets, like the Putch traders of 
Japan, whenever traffic is to be obtained by denial of their 
Lord, will trample upon his crofs to difprove their religion. 
They have given at length their confefTion of political 
faith to the world, and it was only under the fanftion of 
Mr. Ames's name, that it could be properly canvalfed. 

It may perhaps be thought that the conduft of thefe 
friends is here judged with too much feverity — That in 
publiftiing thefe opinions of Mr. Ames, they are not re- 
fponfible for them as their own ; and that even the errors 
of the volume ought to have been overlooked, in confider- 
ation of the general excellence of the author, and the val- 
uable matter with which they are blended. The writer 
of the Review is not infenfible to the moral obligation in- 
cumbent upon a man of generous feehngs to " hide the 
fault he fees,'* and to veil if poffible, even the failings of a 
fellow citizen, diftinguifhed by talents, virtues and public 
fervices. It is that obligation which he thinks the pub- 
lifiiers of the volume have violated. As a free-born 
American citizen, he feels a duty to maintain the rights 
and liberties of his country, not lefs imperious than that of 
refpeding the repofe of death ; efpecially when he per- 
ceives that a ftroke is aimed at every thing which this na- 
tion ought to hold dear, under the (belter of a prefump- 
lion, that the fandluary of the grave would fliield the of- 
fence from the purfuit of juftice ; and that a name entitled 
to public veneration would prove a pafTport for corrup- 
tion to which no man living dared to pledge his own. — 
For it muft be obferved that the compilers have been as 
penurious of their own names, as they have been prodigal 
of that of their departed friend-— The title page tells us 
that they are a number, but not who they are. The bi- 
ography, a performance which in point of compofitior? 



8 

would do honour to any name, yet bears not that of its 
author ; and the very private letters, divulged in the face 
of their own injundions of fecrecy, are direded to nothing 
but aflerifks. 

^ The writer is well aware that party fpirit, will neither 
give him credit for his real motives in the publication of 

thefe papers, nor forbear from the imputation of others. 

But it is not to party fpirit, that he meant to addrefs him- 
felf, nor to partizans that he holds himfelf amenable. Be- 
lieving in the general fenfe and virtue of hjs countrymen, 
he afks of his reader that effort of the mind which Male- 
branche demands of every inquirer after truth — To fepa- 
rate from the fubjed every prepofleflion, not belonging to 
it, and to examine without any partial bias, the fentiments 
advanced in the volume and contefted in thefe papers. If 
ihe principles to which the friends of Mr. Ames have feen 
fit to pledge his reputation are founded in eternal truth, 
to difpute them is nothing lefs than to war againft Om- 
nipotence. If they are founded in error, no apology will 
be neceifary, for an attempt to arreft the progrefs of their 
influence at the threfhold. 

Should the reader be one of thofe, whofe admiration 
for^ the genius and charader of Mr. Ames, is a feeling in 
which he delights to indulge himfelf, and which he is un- 
willing to fubmit to the crucible of ilubborn reafon, he is 
requefted to lay afide the pamphlet, and continue in the 
enjoyment of his fenfations. Should he think it a more 
profitable courfe to teft his principles before he carries 
them into adion, let him examine the volume, and weigh 
the objedions againft a part of its contents, here advan- 
ced ; after which he may ftill enjoy his admiration of the 
man. This I have no inclination to difturb — Let him, if 
it can afl?brd him any gratification, fiifpeSl the motives of 
the Reviewer. But let him renounce principles demon- 
ftrated to be falfe, and of deadly import to the indepen- 
dence and liberties of this country. 



American Principles. 



A 

REVIEW 

OF 

WORKS OF FISHER AMES, ^c. 



NUMBER I. 

IN that ftrange medley of wit and weaknefs ; 
of reafon and dotage ; of benevolence and rancour ; of 
ardent fpirit and childifh terrour, which has juft been pub- 
liflied under the title of " Works of Fijher Ames, compiled 
by a nu?nber of his friends*' — they have treated his memory, 
as they did his body. 

For the purpofe of a little brief impreffion upon popu- 
lar fentiment, which they fancied would be produced by 
the authority of his name, in favour of their darling fol- 
lies, they have mixed up together with fome valuable per- 
formances, really worthy of republication, a multitude of 
old newfpaper eflays, which he never could have expeded 
to furvive the moment or occafion for which they were 
produced, and a number of private letters, certainly not 
intended by him for the public eye, and which nothing but 
the treachery of pretended friendfhip ever would have ex- 
pofed, *^ 

Mr. Ames was a man of genius and of virtue — he 
meant well to his country, and ferved her with fidelity ac- 
cording to his beft judgment. But at a very early period 
of his public life, he conneded himfelf with Hamilton, his 
bank and his funding fyftem, in a manner which warped 
his judgment and trammelled the freedom of his mind for 
the remainder of his days. The reproaches, which at that 
time, his political enemies call upon him, as having con- 
traded ^ perfonalintereji, in the eltablilhment of the fyftem. 
B 



2 

which, partly by the Influence of his exertions, was made 
to prevail, infufed a tindure of bitternefs in his fubfequent 
political fentiments, not congenial to his natural temper- 
he became wedded to his doctrines, not by the fordid felf- 
iflinefs of avarice, to which he was always superior, but 
by the concern for his own fame, and by the virulence of 
his antagonifls.* 

Mr. Ames was not among the firfl who difcerned the 
real charafter and tendencies of the French revolution — and 
when he did difcover that it was not the introductory ave- 
nue to the millennium, he ftill continued to view it through 
a partial medium. He changed his glafs, but still faw 
through it darkly. From that time he became on this 
subject a convert to the EngUfh fchool, and with all the 
opinions of the anti-revolutionift, mingled all the fear-en- 
gendered fancies of the anti-gallican. He adopted the 
wildefl extravagancies which the minifterial pamphleteers 
in England difl'eminate among the populace, to reconcile 
them to the burdens of eternal war with France, and 
transferring to his own country the real dangers oiEfigland, 
from the profped of a French invafion, he lived in a per- 
petual panic, that America would finally be only the lafl: 
morfel for the voracious maw of the monfter Bonaparte. 

During the laft ten years of his life, Mr. Ames*s 
health was always in a precarious, and often in an alarm- 
ing condition. His fpirits partook of his infirmities. The 
moft diflinguifliing feature in his character was the vivaci- 
ty of his imagination. The difeafe which was undermin- 
ing his conftitution, without impairing the fplendour^ of 
his fancy, affefted the tone of his nerves. Every thing 
that he faw became coloured by his fears. He was con- 
tinually, but InefFettually, labouring to impart his terrours 
to his countrymen ; they grew ftronger upon him in pro- 
portion as they proved inefficacious upon others, until he 
worked himfelf up into a fort of reafoning frenzy, com- 
pounded of adoration of Britifh power — abhorrence of 

* It is remarkable, that in this compilation, professedly made as an 
honorary tribute of friendship, but obviously guided in the selection by the 
fingers of faction ; the Speech against Mr. Madison's motion for a discnn-.i- 
nation in funding the public debt, between the oiiginal holders au'^ tl^ pur- 
chasers on r^pec'ulation, though one of Mr, Ames's most eloquent eftusions 
in Congress — is omitted \ 



3 



France, and contempt for his own countrymen. In fuch a 
ftate of mind, he committed fometimes to the prefs fenti- 
ments which will not bear the teft of a cool examination — 
but in his private letters he indulged his morbid humours 
more freely ; and now, thofe fentiments which the hand 
of fmcere affedion ought to have covered with the thick- 
eft veil, are brought forth in all their nakednefs to the 
world, becaufe they happen to fuit the purpofes of a fac- 
tion. 

The following are a very few out of a great number 
of fuch fentiments. If any of Mr. Ames's nwnber of 
friends are prepared to defend them, let them be heard. If 
they are fuch as no man living dare to defend, why were 
they not kept in the facred depofit of private friendfhip, ta 
which they were committed ? 

" Our country Is too big for union ; too fordid for 
pat riot fm ; too democratic for liberty.'" 

Letter of the 26th 061. I803— /. 483. 

** Yet I fee, that the multitude are told, and it is plain 
they are told, becaufe they will believe it, that liberty will 
be a gainer by the purchafe [of Louifiana.] They are 
deceived on their weak fide ; they think the purchafe a 
great bargain. — We are to be rich by felling lands. If the 
multitude were not blind before, their fordid avarice, thus 
addreifed, would blind them." 

ZifiOct. 1803— > 485. 

" Louifiana excites lefs intereft than our thankfgiving. 
It Is an old ftory. I am half of Talleyrand's opinion, when 
he fays we are phlegmatic, and without any paffion except 
that for money-getting. 

2gth Nov. 1803 — p. 487. 

" Suppofe an attack on property, I calculate on the 
" fenfibilities" of our nation. There is a fenforium. Like 
a negro's (bins, there our patriotifm would feel the kicks, 
and twinge with agonies that we fhould not be able fo 
much as to conceive, if we only have our faces fpit in." 

Same letter—-p. 48 



' It IS one of the mojiconfumln^ curfes of heaven-^ANB 
IVE DESERFE /r— to commit the affairs of a nation to rulers, 
who find m their popularity, their rapacity, or their ambi- 
tion, an interefl feparate from the intereft of the people." 

2jth Nov. 1805— ;>. 496. 

^« As great geniufes fnatch the fceptre from the hands 

oi great little rafcals, the government rifes, though liberty 

rifes no more. Ours is gone, never to return. To mitigate 

a tyranny is all that is left for our hopes.'* • 

igih Nov. 1^0 s—Thankfgiving evening, 

« I have hoped that the facred fhield of cowardice, as 
Junius calls it, would protect our peace.—l7?/7/ hcpeJ* 

iJi.Feb, 1806. 

« A fate feems to fweep the proftrate world along, 
that is not to be averted by fubmiffion, nor retarded by 
arms. The Britifh navy ftands like Briai eus, parrying the 
thunderbolts, but can hurl none back again ; and if Bona- 
parte effeds his conqueft of the dry land, the empire of 
the fea mufl in the end belong to him.'* 

14th Feb. i8o6— /. 505. 

« Two obftacles, and only two, impede the eftablilli- 
ment of univerfal monarchy — Ruffia and the Britifli navy." 

Same letter — p. 508. 

" After her fall, ours would not coft Bonaparte a 
blow. We are profirate already, and of all men on earth 
the fitteji to be flaves. Even our darlmg avarice would 
not make a week's refiftance to tribute, if the name were 
difguifed ; and I much doubt whether if France were lord 
of the navies of Europe, we fhould relud at that, or even 
at the appellation and condition of Helots." 

Same letter — p. 510. 

" They [the adminiftration] need not fear the moral 
fenfe, or fenfe of honour, or any other fenfe of our people, 
except their nonfenfe, which they will take fpecial good 
care to keep on their fide." 

10/^ March ^ 1806—/^. 518. 



« It is the nature of thefe [white birch (lakes] to fail 
ill two years ; and a republic wears out its morals al- 
moft as foon as the fap of a white birch rots the wood." 

1 2th Jan. 1807 — P' 514- 

" Of our fix millions of people, there 2.Ytfcarcely ft^ 
hundred, who yet look for liberty any where except on 
paper." 6th Nov. i So;—/*. 5 1 8. 

Americans! Federalifts ! are thefe fentiments true? 
Are you that ftupid— that infamous herd which you are 
here reprefented to be ?— No— Nor could it poffibly be the 
calm and difpaffionate judgment of the writer that you 
were.— These ideas were part of his difeafe— he was him- 
felf fenfible that they were not fit for public infpeftion— 
his memory ought not to be charged with the deteftation, 
which fuch fentiments ought to draw upon thofe, who, in 
full poffeffion of the mod moderate underftanding, could 
deliberately entertain them.— It is not the Saint of the Cal- 
endar—but the fraudulent monks at his fhrine, who at- 
tempt to pafs off the pairings of his nails for relics of ineRi- 
mable price. 

We are fenfible, that this inexpreffible contempt for 
the whole American nation— this fanatical idolatry of Bri- 
tain and this delirious dream of Bonaparte's coming in 
the Ihape of a tiger to eat up our children, have all be- 
come ftandmg articles of faith in the Junto creed. I have 
heard it faid that when His Mod Gracious Majefly was 
under the difciplme of Dr. Willis, he fancied himfelf a 
tox, and that he was hunted by Gen. Wafliington. The 
nineteen twentieths men-the " fcarcely.fix hundred out 
of the fix millions/' who are fincere in thefe night-mare 
vifions, have brains lefs modeft in their confufion than 
thofe of the great King. He humbly conceived him, 
felt turned into a cunning and cowardly bead, whofc 
hunter was a hero. They, forfooth dream, not that they 
themfelves, but that all their neighbours and countrymen 
are transformed into hares, to be hunted by a tiger / and 
that m the chafe, the tiger's raven will not fpare even them 
the fait of the earth, the heroic would-be faviours of their 
bafe and fervile countrymen. It is a melancholy go^tem- 



6 

plation of human nature to fee a mind fo richly giftedj 
and fo highly cuhivated as that of Mr. Ames, foured and 
exafperated into the very ravings of a bedlamite. 

What bitter pangs must humbled genius feel, 
In their last hours to see a Swift or Sfecle ? 

But the apology that is due for him, is not equally 
the right of others. There are thofe, who, without be- 
lieving a word of this abfurd and inconfiftent political 
creed, are yet as eager for its propagation as he was — veri- 
ly they expe£l their reward. If they can frighten the whole 
people into a madnefs, like that of the royal fox — if they 
can fill the brains of the nation with a fancy that we have 
all been transformed into the vileft of the brute creation, 
fave only the choice fpiriis, amounting to, at moft, fi^c 
hundred ; the next ftep follows of courfe — The porcelain 
muft rule over the earthen ware — the blind and fordid 
multitude muft put themfelves, bound hand and foot, into 
the cuftody of the lynx-eyed seraphic fouls of the fix 
hundred ; and then all together muft go and fquat for 
proteQion under the hundred hands of the Britifli Briareus. 
Then, indeed, we may rely upon it, our country will be 
neither " too big for union" nor " too democratic for lib' 
erty,*' 

To this volume is prefixed an elegant and ingenious bi- 
ographical account of the author, written in a ftyle of mod- 
eration, which we cannot but contraft with the violence and 
intemperance of the late papers in the volume itfelf. The 
learned biographer appears on more than one occafion em- 
barrafled with the rantings of his fubjeft, and cools with a 
feather dipt in oil the burning metal of his text. He tells 
us that Mr. Ames was emphatically a republican — but that 
he confidered a republic and a democracy as efl'entially dif- 
tindt and oppofite. Probably this was the ftate of his 
opinions at one period of his life — ^but in his latter days, 
when the Englifh fafcinations and the French antipathies 
had obtained their uncontrouled afcendancy over his mind, 
he appears to have had as little efteem for a republican 
government as for the American people. It is not to a 
democracy, but to a republic, that he compares the elfen- 
tial rottennefs of the white birch ftakes, in one of the above 



extrads. In Ihort, he was too thoroughly Britonized t© 
preferve a relifh for any thing republican ; and in the pa- 
per laft publifhed before his deceafe, contained in this vol- 
ume, he fays in exprefs terms, that " the immortal fpirit 
of the wood-nymph liberty, dwells only in the Britifh 
oak." 

The propofition once made in Congrefs, to declare 
the American nation " the moil: enlightened people upon 
the globe," has been ridiculed quite as much as it deferv- 
ed. If by the term enlightened, were to be underflood 
merely the degree of proficiency attained by a few indi- 
viduals in the arts and fciences, we certainly can have no 
pretentions to a competition with moil of the European 
nations — but if it were meant only to exprefs the amount 
of mental cultivation generally poffeifed by the body of 
the people, I believe it was ftridlly true. It would be dif- 
ficult at leaft to name the people in Europe, the great mafs 
of whom poffefs fo much of that knowledge, which is 
power, as the people of the United States. If, however, 
there was fomething of national vanity manifefted in the 
fentiment, it was at leaft an innocent errour. — But I could 
never perceive either the wifdom or the virtue ofproclaint- 
ing the affuredly falfe doftrine, that the people of America 
are the bafeft and moft degraded of the human fpecies. 
It is one of thofe fcandalous calumnies which a number of 
flarveling vagabonds in England, with Cobbett*s Regifter, 
and Moore, the minftrel of the brothels, have been for 
fome years adminiftering to the malignant paiTions of that 
country ; but from the lips of an American, it is as little 
the voi : e of patriotifm as of truth. The language of in- 
fult and outrage applied to the people, is no better than the 
language of adulation. If a tenth part of thofe horrible 
reproaches upon the whole people poured forth in the ex- 
tracts I have here given, and repeated under a thoufand 
iliapes in this volume, were true, the country would not 
be fit for the refidence of a man who had a fpark of hon- 
our in his compofition. He would fly from it as from a 
land of Yahoos — the very pretence of anxiety for the fat^ 
oi fiich a country, is worl^e than abfurd. — A man, who on 
ihe THANKSGIVING cvcning of the year 1805, could de- 



8 

llberately fit down and write that our liberty was gone, 
never to return, and that to mitigate a tyranny was all that 
was left for our hopes — a man who could believe that our 
countiy was too fordid for patriotifm — that we had nothing 
but the facred fhield of cowardice to protect us — that we 
were of all men on earth the fitteft to be Haves ; comes 
with a very ill grace, when he tells us how much he loves 
and refpeds that very country — and how his heart is 
burfting with anxiety for the welfare of thefe dregs of cre- 
ation. I reverence the virtues and the genius of Mr. 
Ames ; but I know that in penning thofe billingfgate in- 
vedlives againft his country, he could not be in polfeflion 
of a found mind ; and I fubmit it to the feelings of every 
generous fpirit, whether genuine friendlhip Ihould not 
rather have been folicitous to fhroud thefe infirmities from 
the public eye, than with fuch remorfelefs hand to drag 
them into day. 



NUMBER ir. 

THERE is not perhaps in human Society, a trust 
of higher importance and m,ore delicacy, than that which 
devolves upon the friends of an eminent literary man, re- 
lating to the difpofal of the papers which he leaves behind 
him. This trufl has fo often been betrayed, that every 
man who has acquired a reputation in the literary world, 
ought himfelf much more studioufly to difpofc, before his 
deceafe, of thofe productions of his mind, than of his 
worldly eflate. Men of genius are treated like kings. 
They who pretend to be their friends, are often nothing 
more than fycophants, who attach themfelves to their fame, 
for fordid purpofes of their own, and who from the mo- 
ment that the fuperior Spirit has left its tenement of clay, 
inflead of cherifliing and protecting that fame, think of 
nothing but turning it to the account of fome wretched 
palTion or intereft of their own — to fpunge money from 
the purfe of the public, or to pafs difgraceful sentiments 
into circulation, for the wicked purpofes of faction. The 
examples of Chefierjield and Sterne are familiar to thofe 



17 

converfant with the recent literary hlftory of England, of 
men, whofe reputation has been blafted after their deceafe, 
by the publication of papers, which they would have bu- 
ried in eternal oblivion, but which the rapacity of a num- 
ber of their friends, furrendered to the indignation of pof- 
terity for the fake of a paltry tribute levied upon the pub- 
lic curiofity. I know not who are the friends that pub- 
liflied the volume, now before me, but I truft it has been 
fhewn in a former paper, that both its fele(Slion and its 
omijfion, were governed by motives very different from that 
of regard for the lading reputation of the author. — The 
writer of this paper refpected Mr. Ames, and laments, that 
others who by their particular intimacy with him, were 
fpecially charged with the guardianfhip of his fame, inftead 
of adhering faithfully to that duty, have, for the poor pur- 
pofe of promoting the views of a party, " drawn his frail- 
ties from their dread abode,'* and expofed him to the im- 
putation of doctrines, whic'i the found judgment of his 
better days would have rejected with horror, and for which 
they alone ought to be refponfible to diftant nations and to 
future ages. 

In a former paper it was obferved, that the private let- 
ters contained in this compilation were certainly not intend- 
ed by their writer for the public eye ; — and that they con- 
tained fentiments which he himfelf was fenfible were not 
fit for public infpedtion. The evidence of thefe aiTertions 
is contained in one of thofe very letters j and in thefe 
words : 

" It is ever a misfortune for a man to differ from the 
political or religious creed of his countrymen. You will 
not fail to perceive, that I am worfe than a lingerer in my 
faith in the conclufivenefs of the reafoning of Mr. Madi- 
son, and Co. This however, 1 keep to myfelf and lefs than 
half a dozen friends.'* Page 507. 

Is it not ftrange — palling ftrange, that with this direct, 
and explicit admonition (taring him in the face, one of the 
lefs than half a dozen friends to whom the fecret was com- 
mitted, (hould divulge not only to the country, but to the 
enemies of the country thole opinions, which their author 
was aihamed or afraid to avow when alive ? 

C 



18 

Strange indeed it Is ; but the motive is obvious enough. 
The fubject fpecially alluded to in this letter, upon which 
it was Mr. Ameses misfortune to differ from the creed of 
his countrymen, and upon which he was worfe than a lin- 
gerer in his faith in the conclufivenefs of the reafoning of 
Mr. Madifon and Co. — was the great queftion of our neu- 
tral rights to the colonial trade with the enemies of Great 
Britain. The date of the letter is 14th Feb. i8o6--rjufl: 
after the time, when Mr. Madifon*s unarifwerable vindica- 
tion of the neutral caufe appeared — feveral excellent mem- 
orials, written fome of them by men who have fmce de- 
ferted that honorable (landard and joined the banners of 
the enemy, were alfo then before Congrefs ; and it is to 
them that Mr. Ames refers, by the defcription of Mr. Mad- 
ifon, and Co. 

The letter was written to a member of Congrefs, who,, 
as appears from a fubfequent paffage in it, was then on the 
fide of his country upon this great queftion. He ha^ fmce 
changed his fide, and the pubUcation oT this letter was 
doubtlefs intended to anfwer the double purpofe of giving 
countenance to him and other apoftates from the Ameri- 
can principle, and of propagating among the people of 
this country, the opinion that the Britifh doctrine on that 
controversy was the correct one, and that our claim had 
not thefolid foundation of juftice. 

The queftion of our right to the colonial trade, is 
next to that refpecting impreffments, the moft important 
of any which has ever been agitated between Great Britain 
and us, fince the peace of our Independence. It would 
even take the lead of that, if the fecurity to perfonal liberty 
were not prior in the nature and duties of government, to 
any poflible queftion relating to mere property. As it af- 
fects the intereft of this Union, its greateft importance is 
to the eaftern and commercal fection ; to New- l^ngland 
commerce and navigation, it is abfolutely vital. It is by 
means of this trade, and of this alone, that we are provid- 
ed with fubftitutes for thofe rich ftaples of commerce, 
which nature has bountifully beftowed upon the foil and 
cHmate of our fouthern brethren, and which ftie has denied 
to us. To abandon the right to this colonial trade, there- 



19 

fore, is to facrifice not only one of the beft rights of an in- 
dependent nation, but the peculiar and moft precious in- 
terefts of New-England. At the time when this letter 
was written, Great Britain had (truck a deadly blow at this 
unqueflionable right, and this momentous intereft. Ac- 
cording to her ufual cuftom, fhe had begun, without an 
hour's notice, to sweep the ocean clear of American prop- 
erty, under the affumption of a new pretended principle, 
and fhe had fet her mod accompliihed fophifts in the 
fchools of national jurifprudence, at work, to colour her 
robberies with a fhow of argument. At that time, the 
caufe of truth, of juflice, and of America was popular. 
The very day before this letter of Mr. Ames was dated, 
the principle of the American right had been afferted by an 
unanimous vote in the Senate of the United States. There 
was not a man of any character as a Statesman, in the U- 
nited States, who dared to advocate the Britifh pretenfions. 
The very banks and infurance offices refounded with the 
cry of Britifh injuflice and of American independence. 
Even then, however, Mr. Ames and fome lefs than halt 
a dozen others, had been brought to imagine that they 
had probed this fubject to the bottom, and had found that 
the true principle was that afferted by Britain, and that the 
bell thing we could do, would be to fubmit. The procefs 
by which this conviction was wrought upon the mind of 
Mr. Ames, was an operation upon the three articles of 
creed, which the fanatics of his political feet had impofed 
upon his underftanding, and which were unfolded in my 
lad paper — the worjhip of Britifh power — execration of 
France — and contempt for the people of America. His letter 
of the 27th November, 1805, to ^^ ^^'^^ member of Con- 
grefs, confined altogether to the discuffion of this topic, 
proves that the fophiftry of the Britifh pamphleteers, had 
taken complete pofTeflion of his mind. The Britifh princi- 
ple was right, becaufe the Britifh power on the fea was ir- 
refiftible. It was right becaufe it was neceffary to Britain 
fighting for her exiftence — It was right becaufe France had 
no navy — It was right becaufe France would not permit 
us to trade with her colonies in time of peace. This reafon= 
ing fo exadly refembling that of j3Sfop*s wolf, in hi^ dif 



20 

pute with the lamb, had actually proved too ftrong for 
Mr. Ames's dialectics. He had a confiderable pecuniary 
intereft at ftake upon the iffue of refiftance againft ibat lally 
of Britifh rapine. But money, even his own money, was 
nothing and lefs than nothing in his eyes, when the necef- 
fity of Britain's agonies or the fupremacy of Britain's na- 
val dominion, came in conflift with it, in a ftruggle againft 
France. His opinion of Britifh fpirit was as exalted as his 
idea of Britifh logic, and from his contempt for our facul- 
ties, both of heart and head, he concluded that we fhould 
only blufler, but that John Bull would fay he was " as lit- 
tle convinced as afraid," and that we fhould ultimately ac- 
quiesce. It did fb happen, that we perfevered in our 
claims, and that John Bull, whether convinced or afraid, 
did at that time abandon his pretenfion. 

It was, however, again affumed in fubftance, by the far 
famed orders of council of i ith November, 1807. The 
profpect of a war with England was now rendered much 
more probable. As it advanced, and the dangers of our 
country increafed, the worfhippers of Britain faw a dawn 
of hope, that with the aid of the Britifh dodrines, they 
might hurl from power the then adminiftration, and vault 
into their feats themfelves. They renounced all pretence 
to any claim of right againft Great Britain, and immedi- 
ately after the outrage upon the Chefapeake, formally un- 
dertook to juftify in a pubUc newfpaper of this town, the 
ad of the Britifh admiral Berkeley, upon a pretended right 
of the Britifh to take feamen from an American national 
Ihip, by force. 

Mr. Ames's number of friends have not feen fit to in- 
dulge the pubhc with his fentiments upon that tranfadion. 
We know not whether he had reconciled his foul to the 
belief, that every Britifh naval Lieutenant had a rigljt to 
fearch an American fhip of war for men ; but we confefs 
that judging from the fpecimens they have given of his late 
fentiments upon Britifh rights, we do not regret the lofs of 
his opinions upon the affair of the Chefapeake. 

The people were alarmed by the near profped of a 
war with England. — The people were diftreffed by the 
operation ot the embargo. — The people were partially de- 



21 

iuded by the impofture of a pretended miflion to atone for 
the attack on the Chefapeake. At this critical moment, 
one of thofe very Senators, who in February, 1806, had 
voted that the Britifh pretenfion to exclude us from the 
colonial trade in time of war, was a violation of our rights 
and an encroachment upon our independence, came cut in 
a printed pamphlet as the champion for that very Biitifli 
pretenfion. The argument of Mr. Ames's letters doubt- 
lefs had converted him from the American error of his 
ways ; and although Mr. Ames, when writing thofe letters, 
had felt it to be the duty of " a good citizen^ to be filent 
while our fide was argued,** yet his friends have not thought 
it indecorous, at the very moment when our side was in 
the moft imminent jeopardy, to fummon him from the fi- 
lence of the grave, to bear his teftimony in favour of our 
adverfary. 

Thanks to the good and wife difpofer of all events, 
that this weapon has alfo fallen blunted to the ground ! 
Thanks to almighty God, that the nation has been faved 
from the difgrace and ruin, which fubmiffion to this info- 
lent and groundlefs pretenfion of Great Britain, would 
have brought upon them ! The purpofe of breaking down 
the fenfe and fpirit of this people, to that level of degra- 
dation which would have affented to the hollow fophiftry 
of the Britifh claim, has been defeated. — The opinions of 
Mr. Ames, will not now avail, as an apology for treache- 
ry to the rights of the country. 

There is indeed one point of view, in which the pub- 
lication of thefe letters will be ferviceable to the pubHc. 
They have difcovered, beyond all contradiction and denial, 
the real fundamental principles, of that political feft^ 
which has obtained the controul of our ftate adminiftrationy 
and which for the lafl two years has been driving with 
fuch furious zeal to a diffolution of the Union — combi- 
ned with an alliance, offenfive and defenfive, with Great 
Britain. 

The lafl half of this volume might be denominated, 
the political bible of the junto. If there be a refleding 
man in any of our fifler ftates, not infe£ted with the fcab 
6f this political leprofy, who has any doubt what the junto 



^2 

principles really are, let him attentively read that part of 
this volume which had never before been publifhed. Here 
he will find thofe principles which they have heretofore 
circulated in whifpers among themfelves, and denied when 
charged with them in public ; which in their fecret con- 
claves they profefs as articles of faith, and which in their 
public manlfefloes they repel with indignation, as flander- 
ous afperfions. Here he will find, fpun from a degenerate 
plant of our own foil, that three-fold cord of Projiration 
to Britain, Horror of France, and Contempt for Americay 
which binds together the whole political fyftemof the faftion. 

But although the pretenfions contended for by Great 
Britain, has once more been withdrawn, and will, in all 
probability, not now form a fubje<3t of controverfy between 
the two nations, we have no fecurity that in the firft hour 
of fuccefs which the chances of war may evolve in her 
favour, fhe will not aflert it again. Should the tempta- 
tion of a rich and defencelefs commerce, expanded over 
every ocean, and immediately under the fangs of her naval 
power, again concur with that " envious jealoufy and 
canker'd fpite," which fickens many of her moft influen- 
tial ftatefmen ^t the fight of American profperity, that ac- 
commodating principle of Britifh law of nations, which 
'ike the devils of Milton's Pandemonium, fwells into a giant 
or flirinks into a pigmy, as its occafions require, will again 
make its appearance " in its own dimenfions, like itfelf.'* 
The rule of the war of 1 756, painted with fome new fo- 
phiflical varnifh, will iflue again from the dens of Dod;or*s 
Commons, as an Afiatic panther leaps from the thicket 
upon the unwary traveller. The commerce of America 
will be its vidim ; and the Canning of the day, with fome 
farcaftic fneer, may refer us, for the juftification of Brit- 
ifh depredations, to the opinions of an American flatefman. 
One of your own jurifls, he will fay, has fettled the ques- 
tion againfl you. Mr. Ames has fandioned the Britifh 
dodrine. 

There is another public mifchief which may refult 
from the publication of thefe private letters of Mr. Ames, 
refpeding this queflion. There are two remarkable pe- 
culiarities in the American charader : The people of this 



23 

country have a more profound refpeft ior Right and Juf- 
iice, than any other nation upon the face of the earth. 
They would never contend for any claim, the juftice of 
which they fhould not fincerely believe to be on their 
fide. They are alfo very much influenced in their opin- 
ions by the authority of refpeded names. Thefe two 
qualities are, upon the whole, much to their honour ; 
although the fadion, whofe prindples I have undertaken 
to expofe, have made this love of Juftice, for many years, 
the theme of their ridicule. Mr. JefFerfon, who was well 
acquainted with this charaderiftic of his countrymen, 
often, very often appealed to this ftrong fenfe of Juftice, 
and exprefled his confidence in its operation. His reli- 
ance upon it has been one of the moft copious fountains of 
merriment and derifion, played by his antagonifts upon 
him — a merriment and derifion, in which it appears from 
this volume, the mind of Mr. Ames himfelf did not dif- 
dain to participate. The floods of farcafm and inveftive 
which have guflied upon him, for his repeated references 
to the umpirage of reafon, are univerfally known j and 
this fagacious mirth might be indulged as harmlefs, were 
it not infeparably conn^ded with a political fyftem. If, 
then, the people of America could be prevailed upon to 
think that they have no right to claim a free trade with 
the colonies of Britain's enemies, in time of war, they 
would never aflfert it ; they would, without a ftruggle, 
furrender the trade, whenever it might fuit the purpofes 
of the Britifh cabinet to take it from neutrals, and give it 
exclufively to their own people. When this book was 
publiflied the two countries were on the brink of war^, 
chiefly upon this very queftion ; and the intention of the 
publication manifeftly was to ftagger the faith of the na- 
tion in their right. Had the recent trial of our perfe- 
verance and fortitude continued much longer, the abhor- 
rence of war would have given the flimfieft cobweb of 
fophiftry the confiftency of found logic, in the minds of a 
great portion of the people of New England : efpecially 
when the Britifti party might have rung in the ears of ev- 
ery trembling patriot, that Mr. Ames had declared himfelf 
againft our right to the objed in conteft. I have no 



1 :j 



24 

doubt that if this right fhould again be denied by Britain, 
and again call for our exertions to defend it, the fame par- 
ty will refort to the fame expedient, and that the authori- 
ty of Mr. Ames's opinion will be vouched to feal the de- 
gradation of the nation, and the furrender of this great 
and unqueftionable right. 

It becomes, therefore, a duty to declare, that from 
Mr. Ames's difcufllon of this queftion, in thefe private 
letters, not a lingle fcintilation of new light upon the fub- 
je£l ha? been elicited ; that he pins his faith upon Sir 
Wiliiaii) Scott, and the minifterial pamphleteers ; that the 
two great pillars of his argument are power and necejjtty 
— Both thefe pillars Mr. Madifon had broken up into 
atoms, utt rly harmlefs and contemptible, in his examina- 
tion of the B* itifli doctrine, and even the talisman of Mr. 
Ames's eloquence is not adequate to the recompofition of 
their dufl into folid columns. The expofition of found 
principle and irrefragable proof in that work, is a fub- 
ftantial pledge to the nation that Mr. Madifon will never 
abandon the right which he {o clearly vindicated, and 
while we drop a tear of compaflion upon the political 
weaknefs of Mr. Ames's declining days let us rejoice that 
the maintenance of oar national rights againfl Great Brit- 
ain has been committed to men of firmer minds. The 
honour of difclaiming the liberties of the nation, will not, 
I believe, foon be contefted againfl Mr. Ames, but when 
the pretenders of friendfhip, fitted with their unhallowed 
hands the deadly night-fhade, inflead of the laurel to his 
lifelefs brows, was there not fome minifter of eternal juf- 
tice to interpofe, and fix it with the merited dilhonour up- 
«n their own ? 



NUMBER III. 



1. " THERE is a kind of fatality in the affairs of 
REPUBLICS, that eludes the forefight of the wife as much 
as \\. frustrates the toils and facrifices of the patriot and the 
hero." 

" Dangers of American Liberty ^^ p* 380 of the volume. 



25 

2. " It is pretty enough to fay, the republic com- 
mands, and the love of the republic dictates obedience 
to the heart of every citizen. This is fyftem, but is it 
nature ? The republic is a creature of fiction ; it is every 
body in the fancy, but nobody in the heart. Love, to be 
any thing, must bQ /elect and excluftve. We may as well 
talk of loving geometry as the commonwealth." p. 395. 

3. " It is faid, that in republics, majorities invariably 
opprefs minorities. Can there be any real patriotifm in a 
ftate, which is thus filled with thofe who exercife and 
those who fuffer tyranny ? But how much lefs reafon has 
any man to love that country, in which the voice of the 
majority is counterfeited, or the vicious, ignorant, and nee- 
dy are the inftruments, and the wife and worthy are the 
victims of oppreffion." ^.413. 

4. " Is there in human affairs an occafion of profli- 
gacy, more fhamelefs or more contagious than a general 
election ? Every spring gives birth and gives wings to this 
epidemic mif chief. Then begins a fort of tillage, that 
turns up to the fun and air the mofl noxious weeds in the 
kindlitft foil ; or tofpeak flill more ferioufly, it is a mortal 
peftilence, that begins with rottennefs in the marrovi^.** 

/>. 415. 

5. " Federalifm was, therefore, manifejlly founded 07i 
a miftake, on the fuppofed exiflence of fuflicient political 
virtue, and on the permanency and authority of the public 
morals." p, 416. 

Thefe flrains of panegyric upon republics, and repub- 
lican inflitutions, are extracted word for word from a dif- 
fertation upon " the Dangers of American Liberty," writ- 
ten by Mr. Ames, and communicated in February, ] 805, 
to one of his friends, but never publifhed until after his de- 
ceafe, in this compilation. 

Its title, " The Dangers of American Liberty," is a 
mifnomer — The whole fcope of its argument is to prove 
the pofition, which on the Thankfgiving evening of the 

D 

a 



26 

fame year he wrote in a private letter to another friend — ' 
that American liberty " was gone ; never to return.^* 

An ingenious annotator has seized upon one short 
paragraph, a^ indicating the motive for which this " gloo- 
my picture of the affairs of our country'* was delineated., 
He fays it was to defer ^ or mitigate our fate by alarming 
the honest part of our citizens. 

If this was really the motive, (and as thefaireft in fa- 
vour of the author's intentions, to which it can be afcribed, 
I have the strongeft inclination to believe it) the perform- 
ance was ill adapted to the defign — for the only pofTible ap- 
pli^ ation to be drawn from it by a rational being, would be, 
not exertion but defpair — Every principle, every illuftration, 
every inference leads the mind irrefiftibly to the conclu- 
fion, that the miferies of our condition were beyond the 
reach of counfel ; that the virtue and wifdomof the coun- 
try were under the irretrievable dominion of its vice and 
folly ; and that there was nothing left among the good 
and great of this nation, but to (hew with what aprofufion 
of rhetorical flowers they could drew the grave of liberty, 
and in how many graceful varieties of attitude they could 
bite their chains. Its natural effect was, not alarm, but 
convuijton. 

It was not intended by its author for publication. In 
the letter to the friend to whom it had been communicated, 
he exprefsly fays, that " to be of value enough /or the au- 
thor to own it, hp muff be allowed ti?}ie, muft beftow on it 
more thought, fearch for fads 2iiid principles in pamphlets 
and larger works, and in fhort, make it entirely overagain." 

I agree entirely with him, that it was not of value 
enough for the author to own it ; and think that his friends 
would have proved their affeftion for him, as well as their 
refped; for the public, if they had fhewn more deference to 
his opinion in this cafe, and lefs eagernefs to fpread abroad 
their favourite tenets. Whether the pamphlets or larger 
works to which alone in his temper of mind he would have 
reforted for fafts and principles, would have improved the 
complexion of his work, is notneceffary to enquire — if the 
only objection againfl it were its want of value, I fliould 
neither complain of the editors, nor prefent the above ex- 



27 

irafts to the meditations of the public — But it contahis, up. 
on a fubject deeply interefting to this country, principles 
at war with reafon, and aflertions at war with fad. Had 
thefe been merely the errors of Mr. Ames, I would have 
lamented in silence the indifcretion of his friends, in expo- 
fing them to the world, and fuffered them to perifli by the 
natural decays of their own abfurdity — But they are not 
the wanderings of Mr. Ames's imagination — They are the 
principles of a fadion, which has fucceeded in obtaining 
the management of this commonwealth, and which afpired 
to the government of the Union. Defeated in this lafl ob- 
ject of their ambition, and fenfible that the engines by 
which they have attained the maftery of the ftate are not 
sufficiently comprehenfive, nor enough within their control 
to wield the machinery of the nation, their next refort 
was to difmember w^hat they could not fway, and to form 
a new confederacy, to be under the glorious fhelter of Brit- 
ifh protection. To prepare the public mind for changes 
fo abhorrent to the temper and character of our people, 
the doctrines, with which this volume teems, were to be 
ufhered into pubhc view, whenever a profpe6l for their fa- 
vourable reception might appear. . Mr. Ames, in writing 
thefe papers, and others, publifhed before his death, difclof- 
ing not quite fo clearly the fyflem of the party, was a6ling 
under an impulfe of which he was himfelf not aware — But 
the period of his death happening jufh at a moment of great 
national difficulty and diflrefs, the chofen hour was con- 
cluded to have arrived, when thefe theories might be cir- 
culated with the greateft effect ; and when difgufl at our 
popular inflitutions, contempt for our own country, detef- 
tation of France, and fubferviency to Britain, might be fo 
mingled up with the influence of Mr. Ames's name, that 
the whole would be fwallowed by the public, without ex- 
amination, and all contribute to the purpofes of the party. 
The proceedings of the ftate legiflature during the prefent 
year have furnifhed ample proofs, that thefe principles have 
been at the root of their whole fyflem of meafures. It is 
alfo a fa£t perfectly well known, that many of thefe meaf- 
ures have been carriedby reluctant votes ; that many mem- 
bers of the majority have moft unwillingly affented to them ; 



28 

and on one occafion when afmglefpiritedmemberprefumed 
to have an opinion of his own, he was attacked in one of 
the prefl'es of the faction, for daring to think for himfelf. 
The legiflature of the fucceeding year will be of the fame 
pohtical party as the laft. They will not be checked by 
a chief magiftrate of different opinions, and the country 
has been threatened with no equivocal anticipation of what 
will be attempted, '" when the ^hole government of the 
Hate fhould be united in one joint effort, with other flates, 
w^hofe interefts and objects are fimilar to our own." It is 
therefore a fenfe of duty to the country, which enjoins a 
pointed attention to the tenets of this book, as well as to 
their practical effeds in the adminiflration of our affairs. 

Mr. Ames (fays his biographer) was emphatically a 
republican. Let his repubiicanifm be tefted by thefe ex- 
tracts, to which a thoufand others of the fame caft of 
charadler might be added. The firft extract declares that 
the affairs of republics are governed by a perverfe fatali- 
ty — the fecond, that it is impoffible to love a republic — 
the third, that there can be no fuch thing as patriotifm in 
a republic, and leaft of all in one like ours — the fourth, 
that our annual elections are a mortal peftilence, that be- 
gins with rottennefs in the marrow — and the fifth, that 
the federalifm which formed our national conftitution was 
manifeftly founded on a miffake, in fuppofing the exift- 
ence of political virtue. 

The reafoning in the fecond deferves particular no- 
tice — it is impoffible to love the republic ; becanfe the re- 
public is a creature of fiftion ; and becaufe love, to be any 
thingj mufl be y^/^<f? and EXCLUSIVE. Inflead of the re- 
public, let the word be our country—the argument is pre- 
cifely the fame — our country is a creature of fidion. Our 
country comprifes the whole nation to which we belong 
— The love of our country, if it be any thing, can neither 
be feled; nor exclufive : it is the love of the whole com- 
munity, and prompts to zeal for the welfare of all, without 
diftindion of party or of place. The fentiment of the 
heart which difowns all love, but fuch as is feleft and ex- 
clufive, is neither congenial with repubiicanifm nor with 
Chriftianity. Mr. Ame§ acknowledged the authority of 



29 

him whofe injundlion to his difciples was, " but I fay unto 
you, LOVE YOUR ENE MI us." Was this felect or exclu- 
five ? In truth, this principle of yf/t'<f?/6'/2 2.x\A exdufwn^ in 
the appHcation of our afFedlions to the political relations of 
fociety, is a pernicious error of morals as well as of poli- 
tics. Mr. Ames would have found no fuch doctrine in 
Cicero's Books of Offices — And the confequences of this 
principle are as mifchievous as its origin is contrafted. It 
is the feminal principle from yNhizh. Ja^ton takes its birth. 
It is this fele'd and exclufive love, which breeds the whim- 
fey, that there are fcarcely fix hundred out of fix millions, 
who look for Uberty any where but upon paper. It fhar- 
pens all the afperities of party fpirit, and makes federalifts 
and republicans confider one another, not as fellow- citi- 
zens having a common intereft ; but as two rival nations 
marfhalled in hoftile array againft each other. 

Had Mr. Ames, but given himfelf time to reflect up- 
on his own labours, he mud have perceived the fallacy of 
confounding that fentiment of focial benevolence, which 
in our country is properly denominated the I.ove of the 
Republic, with that feled: and exclufive affedion which 
belongs to the connections of domeftic life — Parental, con- 
jugal and filial iove, no doubt is feledt and exclufive, yet 
its limitations are not in the paffion but in its objects. 
The love of the Republic, which is the love of our coun- 
try upon the fame general foundation of good will, ex- 
pands with the extent of its object, and can embrace a 
whole continent with as much e .fe as a fingle city. But 
like all the focial virtues it requires cultivation, and will 
not thrive upon ridicule and contempt. « 

IncorreQ: as this paflage is with regard to principle, 
it is not more fo than the fourth extrad, in point of fa6t. 
What muft be the opinion of refpectable foreigners who 
ihall read this terrible invect ve againfl our annual elec- 
tions 1 — And what mufl be their furprife on being in- 
formed that it is merely a pifture of the imagination — That 
it has no foundation in reality. If indeed a reader can 
difcard the prepoffeffion arifing from the Author's name, 
there are in this extraft fume internal marks of inaccura- 
cy. The accufation oi jhamekfs profligacy is in thofe 



30 

broad and general terms, which fo often Shelter a delu- 
fion. No ipecific example of this fuppofed profligacy is 
alleged. The remainder of the paragraph may be cited 
as a curious inflance of Judgment extinguiflied in the blaze 
of Fancy. Our eledions are held in the Spring. The 
Spring flarts an idea of tillage : tillage leads the thoughts 
to Summer, and that gives the hint of an Epidemic, 
From that moment the accefforial images become the 
principal figures. The tillage turns up noxious weeds — 
The epidemic becomes a mortal peflilence — The eledton 
is entirely gone from the mind both of the writer and the 
reader — Nothing remains but the noxious weeds and the 
peflilence. 

The two great vices, to which the experience of 
ancient and modern times, in other countries has fhewn 
popular eleftions to be liable, are bribery and violence. 
I appeal now to the confcioufnefs of every citizen of the 
Commonwealth. Are the inftances ol either, common 
in our Elections ? I affirm with the moft perfed; confidence 
that they are extremely rare. There is fometimes an ex- 
cefs of zeal, and an enthufiafm of party fpirit in favour of 
the refpedive candidates, and the newfpapers on both fides 
are too acceffible to fcurriiity and calumny againft the per- 
fonswhofe names are held up for the fuffrage of the voters. 
The general election is always a period of fome agitation, 
and it ftimulates and fharpens the anti-focial paffions of 
many individuals. But I have no fear of being contra- 
didled when I fay that our elections are remarkable for 
the purity, the mildnefs and the decorum with which they 
are conduded. It is inconceivable that a man acquaint- 
ed with the Roman hiftory, in the age of Cicero and Clo- 
dius fliould fay as Mr. Ames does lay, that " thofe times 
were not more corrupt than our own."* 

* The * deep corruption of those times' is described hy the Poet tucan, not 
with metaphors about noxious weeds, and epidemic mischiefs ; but with the spe- 
cific characters of trutli. 

" Meneuraque juris 
*' Vis erat : hinc Jejjjes, et plebis scita coactae ; 
" Et cum Consulibus turbantes jura Tribuni ; 
" HInc rapti precio fasces sectorque favoris 
•' Ipse sui populus ; letalisque ambitus urbi, 
" Annua venali refereus certamina Gampo, 



31 

But perhaps no one of thefe extrafts deferves more 
ferioufiyto berefltded upon than the fifth — Which fo ex- 
plicitly afferts that federalifm, at the eftablifhment of the 
Conftitution, was ?nanifejlly founded on a mijiake^ in fup- 
pofing the exiftence of virtue in the people. 

It was obferved in a former paper that the friends of 
Mr. Ames, who with fuch anxious induftry have gather- 
ed all the gleanings of the newfpapers of late years, for 
hafty crudities, which he never avowed, and who have 
abuied the confidence of private correfpondence, by pub- 
lifliing letters which on the face of them appear confiden- 
tial, have at the fame time omitted from this compilation 
one of the mod eloquent fpeeches, which as a public man, 
as a Reprefeatative of the People, he ever made. The 
remark might have been much more extenfive in its ap- 
plication. It applies to all his fpeeches in Congrefs from 
the eftablifhment of the Government, until January 1 794. 
In the firft Con^ref^ objects of great and lafting impor- 
tance were difcuffed. The adminiftration was organized. 
The principles were fettled, and the conftitution itfelf was 
in fome refpefts new modelled. We are told by the 
learned Biographer, and it is known to every man whofe 
memory can trace fo far back the progrefs of our hiftory, 
that in all thefe difcuflions Mr. Ames took an adive and 
confpicuous part. — Yet of all the fpeeches which he de- 
livered on thofe occafions, the Compilers of this volume, 
have not thought one worthy of prefervation, until they 
come to that upon Mr. Madison's Commercial Refolu- 
tions. Why all thefe omifTions ? and why this feleftion ? 
— *' The why is plain as way to parifh church." 1 he 

•' Hence pliant, servile voices were constrain d, 

" And force in popular assembiies reign'd. 

" Consuls and tribunes with opposing might 

" Join'd to confound and overturn the right : 

" Hence shameful magistrates were made for gold, 

" And a bate people by themsel'ves -were sold : 

" Hence slaughter in the iienal field returns, 

" And Rome her yearly competitions mourns." 

Jiotue''s Lacan. 
Is it not a perversion of the essential nature of things, to draw political prin 
ciples from such a state of society, as applicable to ours ? Yet Mr Ames, afte; 
referring to some of the worst transactions of this very period in the Romar: 
history, asks " Is not all this apparent in the United States?" 



32 

compilers hold that the federalifm which founded the na- 
tional conftitution was manifeftlj founded on a mijiake* 
They have renounced the principles of their better days, 
and withhold from the public every thing which could re- 
vive their influence or recall their recolledion. This de- 
generacy from the honourable principles which they once 
maintained, is not a new phenomenon in the hiftory of 
parties. In all free countries it is an event by no means 
uncommon, and it calls for the mofl watchful attention of 
the genuine patriot. It is by fimilar dereliftions of their 
principles, that legitimate parties degenerate by degrees 
into intriguing fadions and treafonable confpiracies. 

After thus formally renouncing the original principles 
of federalifm, what has this fed of American politicians 
fubftituted in their (lead ? The volume upon which I 
have already beftowed fo much confideration, and which 
will yet require more, furnifhes the anfwer. 

The " Dangers of American Liberty" is a fable with- 
out a moral. It paints in the gloomy colours of a difturb- 
ed imagination the fuppofed evils of our condition ; and 
labours with painful argumentation to prove that 7ione of 
the remedies or alleviations which minds of healthier hue, 
had fuggefted, can have any efficacy to reftore us to the 
enjoyment of freedom. It indicates no remedy as advifa- 
ble to be tried. — What was the reafon of this ? 

In a free country the firft flep of ambitious and difap- 
pointed leaders^ whofe only refource is in a revolution, 
muft naturally be to make the people dilfatisfied with 
their condition — To perfuade them that their iituation is 
intolerable — The next, to extinguilh all their hopes of its 
amendment from the natural courfe of things, and exift- 
ing inflitutions — The third is Revolution. Until the two 
firft are accompHfhed, the inftigators to the laft, muft of- 
ten conceal, and fometimes difguife the means for its ac- 
complifhment. 

A revolution, not in the adminiftration, but of the 
conftitution, was obviouHy the only remedy within the 
reach of human powers, upon the mind of Mr. Ames. 
Taking the fafts and the principles exhibited in this trea- 
tife for true, and the duty of infurreftion againft fuch a 



ftate of things follows as an irrefifllble Inference ; but the 
time was not come when this might fafely be committed 
to paper. It is now known that the projeft for a difmem- 
berment of the Union, by a plan which required a milita^ 
ry commander^ had been very ferioufly propofed to Mr. 
Hamilton, Ihortly before his death. It had probably been 
known to Mr. Ames, though he faid nothing of it in his 
eulogy of Hamilton. The paper drawn up by this gentle- 
man, previous to his meeting with Col. Burr, manifeftly 
alludes to that propofition, and to a ftate of things for 
which it was material to the public, that he fhould keep 
his military charad:er unqucftioned. He had difapproved 
and rejected the fcheme of difmemberment, and Mr. Ames, 
in this work fpeaks of fuch an expectation, as one of thofe 
Jlattering hopes^ which would not be realized. Poflibly 
Mr. Ames was unwilling himfelf to look full in the face the 
expedients, which, on his ftatements, alone remained for 
the redemption of the country. The efl'ay on a Britifli 
alliance, the dangers of American liberty, and the review 
of a late pamphlet on the Britifh conftitution, all difcover 
him* entangled in the toils between his premifes' and his 
conclufions. Like the poetical image of Fear, he firft 
lays a bewildered hand amid the chords, and then recoils, 
he knows not why, 

•' E'en at the sound himself had made." 

The praftical comment upon thefe principles is to be 
found, in the publication of thefe papers againft the clear 
injunftion of their author, and in the meafures of the 
MafTachufetts Legiflature, precipitated by the men who 
believe in the fame doctrines. 

One of their firft afts, on fecuring a majority in the 
legiflature, was to manifeft their hatred of popular elec- 
tions, by taking a very important election from the peo- 
ple, to exercife it themfelves ; to ftiew that federalifm was 
founded on a miftake, they undertook to dictate (under 
the pretence of a requeft,) to the reprefentatives of the 
people in Congrefs, how they fliould u6t, and when fome 
of thofe reprefentatives difcovered, in a firm, though ref- 
pedful manner, their fenfe of their own rights and obliga- 

E 



84 

tions to the People, they replied, with infulting contume- 
ly. They have attempted, and but for the negative of the 
chief magiftrate, would have authorized direct and forci- 
ble refiftance againft the laws of the Union. They have 
countenanced the grolTeft outrages committed againft us 
by Great-Britain, and have not fcrupled to call aloud upon 
Congrefs to go to war with France. They have openly 
avowed the intention of a partial affociation with fome of 
the neighbouring ftates, and to manifeft their feled and 
exclufive love, they have fomented local jealoufies, and in- 
ftigated invidious animofities againft our fellow-citizeni in 
other parts of the union. 

My countrymen ! the feeds and the fruits are both 
before you. If the extracts at the head of this paper are 
emphaiicaliy Republican, the leading meafures of the Le- 
gillature have been emphatically patriotic. They flow 
from the fame fources ; proftration to Britain, horror of 
France, and contempt for the American people. 



NUMBER IV. 



SUBSERVIENCY to Britain—Abhorrence of 
France — and contempt for the American people. — Such 
are the three foundation ftones upon which the political 
fyftem of Mr. Ames, in his laft days was ereded. This 
political fyftem has become the predominating policy of 
the petty majority in the Legiflature of this Common- 
weal ti;. It is upon this bafisthat their principal meafures 
af the laft year have arifen. It is believed that a large 
proportion of that fmall majority, have been reluftantly 
drawn into the current of this fatal vortex. It is hoped 
that an expofare of thefe principles in their naked de- 
formity, a demonftration of their pernicious tendency to 
the peace and liberties of this nation, and a difclofure of 
the chain of connexion between the doftrines of the vol- 
ume, and the proceedings of the party, will not be without 
its uie to the people of the Commonwealth and of the 
Union. 

For this purpofe fome extracts from this publication 



^5 

have been given in former papers. And as partial quota- 
tions of fingle fentences are not of themfelves a fiifficient 
foundation from which the principles of a writer can be 
inferred, a view has alfo been taken of the general char- 
acter and tendency of thofe writings of Mr. Ames, which 
are now publifhed for the firfh time. The anti-republican 
prejudices which originated in his exceffive admiration ot 
Britain, and his extreme contempt for our country, were 
exhibited in the furvey taken in my laft paper, of his pro- 
jected work, which his editors have chosen to entitle " The 
Dangers of American Liberty. ^^ 

A natural confequence of the mean eflimation in which 
he held the whole people of America, was the jealoufy, 
and it is not too much to fay rancor, with which he con- 
templated the people of thofe parts of the Union not in 
our own immediate neighbourhood. 1 propofe in this pa- 
per to prefent a number of extrads from that fame trea- 
tife, indicating the temper of his ftntimenis upon this fub- 
je6t, and to fuggefl fome obfervations upon them, for the 
confideration of my readers. 

1 . " The progrefs of party has given to Virginia a pre- 
ponderance, that perhaps was not forefeen. Certainly, 
fmce the late amendment in the article for the choice ot 
Prefident and Vice-Prefident, there is no exifting provi- 
fion of any efficacy to counteraft it.*' p. 585. 

2. " If dates were neither able nor inclined to obftruft 
the federal union, much indeed, might be hoped from fuch 
a confederation. But Virginia^ Pennsylvania^ and New- 
Tory^areof an extent fufficient to form potent monarchies, 
and, of courfe, are too powerful, as well as too proud, to 
be fubjects of the federal laws. Accordingly, one of 
the firft fchemes of amendment, and the molt early ex- 
ecuted, was to exempt them in form from the obligations 
ofjuftice." /». 385. 

S. " Here let Americans read their own hiftory. Here 
let even Virginia learn, how perilous and how frail will be 
the confummation of her fchemes." p. 387. 

4. " The great ftate oi Virginia has fomented a licentious 
fpirit among her neighbours.*' />. 388. 



36 

5. " What fhall we denominate the oligarchy that fwayii 
the authority of Virginia?" p. 399. 

6. " Virginia has never been more federal than it was, 
when from confulerations of policy, and, perhaps, in the 
hope of future fuccefs from its intrigues, it adopted the 
new conftitution ; for it has never defifted from obftruft- 
ting its raeafures, and urging every fcheme that would re- 
duce it back again to the imbecility of the old confederal 
tion. To the difmay of every true patriot, thefe arts have 
at length fatally fucceeded ; and our fystem of govern- 
ment now differs very little from what it would have been, 
if the impoft propofed by the old Congrefs had been 
granted, and the new federal conftitution had never been 
adopted by the ftates." 

7. " The ftraggling fettlements of the fouthern part 
of the Union, which now is the governing part, have been 
formed by emigrants from almoft every nation of Eu- 
rope. Safe in their folitudes alike from the annoyance of 
enemies and of government, it is infinitely more probable, 
that they will Jink into barb ar if in than rife to the dignity 
of national fentiment and character. " 

8. " Are not the wandering Tartars or Indian hunters 
at leaft as fufceptible of patriotifm as thefe ftragglers in our 
weftern forefts, and infinitely fonder of glory ? It is difficult 
to conceive of a country, which, from the manner of its 
fettlement, or the manifeft tendencies of its poHtics, is 
more deftitute or more incapable of being infpired with 
political vh'tue." />. 414. 

In grouping together thefe fentiments, from a heart 
ulcerated againft our fellow citizens beyond the borders of 
New England, I am performing a tafk ftill more ungra- 
cious than when colleding the moft ftriking teftimonials of 
the author's contempt for us all. If it be true, that the 
people in the different quarters of this Union are not suffi- 
ciently drawn together by the ties which form the connec- 
tions of a common country — If it be true that they have in 
every great fedion certain varieties or fuppofed oppofitions 



37 

of interefl, and many pailions and prejudices, which alie- 
nate them from each other, let me afk, what ought to be 
the principles, and the n;axims of a genuine American 
ftatefman ? — Can there be any patriotifm, can there be any 
wifdom, can there be any humanity, in a painful exertion 
of intellect, to awaken every fleeping ember of jealoufy, to 
widen every breach of feparation, to fliffen coldnefs into 
froft, to exafperate indifference into r.incour ? No, it is to 
aggravate the very evil of which we complain. Crimina- 
tion and reproach are not the natural inftruments of con- 
ciliation. Unjufl reproach inevitably calls forth and de- 
ferves refentment ; its natural offspring are hatred and re- 
venge. 1 cannot wafte words upon an argument to prove 
that the firft of human blefTmgs to this country is Union. 
I muft take this for granted ; and then I fay, legiflators 
of America ! whether affembled in the halls of Congrefs, 
or in the Affemblies of the individual States ; whether 
exercifing the maglflracy delegated by the people and 
your conftitutions, or that natural magiflracy, which 
among a free and virtuous people, is the prerogative of 
genius and virtue, delegated by heaven, and operating by 
the influence of your writings and examples; let it be 
your firft ftudy to draw together thefe elements which 
are too loofely affociated — Promote a fpirit of concilia- 
tion — foften afperities cherifh a good underftanding 

with your neighbours — exhibit to them a confidence in 
their integrity — an accommodating difpofition toward 
their interefts — a cheerfulnefs in the fupport of common 
burthens ; a candid acknowledgement of participation in 
common enjoyments— a good humour and benevolence, 
fuch as feldom fails among men with any degree of civil- 
ization to meet with a like return. Do not totally es- 
trange from each other thofe whofe common misfortune 
it is not to be clofely enough allied. Do not make na- 
tional enemies of thofe who are not fufficiently fellow cit- 
izens. Do not enkindle fraternal fury among thofe whofe 
greateft want is a fufficient ardour of fraternal affeftion. 
There is no real oppofition of interefts between any 
one part of thi^ union and another. Nothing but difun- 
ion can create fuch an oppofition ; but that would create 



38 

it ; and in its train an endlefs perlpedive of unextinguilha- 
ble war. Union is peace ; and peace is liberty. Dif- 
memberment would from its origin breed war and def- 
potifm at a fingle birth. 

When Burr and Blannerhaflet were attempting a 
projeft of difunion, to be etfefted by a divifion of the 
Weftern States, they circulated, in converfations and newf- 
papers, the fame excitements among them to jealoufy and 
envy againft their Atlantic fillers, as we find in thefe ex- 
tracts againft the flragglcrs of the forefls. They urged 
that the weftern people were oppreffed by the commercial 
ftates ; that we had made them our tributaries ; that they 
had paid a heavy load of taxes for our benefit ; that the 
produce oi their lands was applied to pay our debts ; that 
the national government was without eitergy, and that from 
all this muft follow within five, or even two years, the dif- 
folution of the Union. This language was as plaufible, and 
not more delufive than that held forth to our felfifh paflions, 
in the " Dangers of American Liberty." By a partial and 
infidious reprefentation of things, nothing can be more 
eafy than to paint any one part of the Union, as under 
opprefTion from the reft— A juft reprefentation, which 
draws a candid balance of advantages and inconveniences^ 
muft prove alike to every part, that the anchor of their 
falvation is union ; that the laft hopes of improvement in 
the condition of man, would perifh for ever in our divifion. 
Mr. Ames, to the laft hour of his life, appears to 
have taken a pride in confidering himfelf as a difciple of 
the Wafhington fchool of American politics. I will not 
repeat here the words of that great man, in which he cau- 
tions his countrymen againft all fuch addreffes to their lo- 
cal prejudices and reciprocal jealoufies. — They have been 
fo recently and fo often repeated in the public prints, that 
they muft be upon the memory, as I would they were in 
the hearts of all my readers. Between thefe fentiments 
and thofe of the " Dangers of American Liberty,'* the 
contraft is too ftriking not to be perceived by every per- 
fon who will compare them — But in renouncing the po- 
litical principles of Wafhington, Mr. Ames could not 
>ielp renouncing his own. Thefe fcornful and contemp- 



39 

tuousftrlftures upon the inhabitants of the Weftern States, 
how poor and unamiable do they appear, when compared 
with thofe beautiful paffages in the fpeech upon the treaty 
of 17^4, where he urges the lituation, and the interefls of 
thofe very weflern people, as arguments for the appropri- 
ations required by that inftrument. Thefe paffages com- 
pofe perhaps the fineft fpecimen of American eloquence 
that ever was pronounced. And in what does their fupe- 
rior excellence exift ? In what, but that ardent fellow- 
feeling, that blaze of patriotifm, that keen and vivid parti- 
cipation in their dangers, and that earneftnefs of zeal for 
their fafety, which the fpeaker profeffed, and which at that 
time I have no doubt he really felt ? 

It is in the nature of confederated re])ublics, that ev- 
ery member of the affociation fliould endeavour to raife as 
high as poffible its own weight and influence over the 
whole. It would be abfurd to complain of this difpofition, 
becaufe it is inherent in the nature of men. All aflfocia- 
tionsoffuch a political charadler ought to be calculated 
upon it, and conftituted in fuch a manner as to control its 
operations. — Their mechanifm fhould be fuch as to allow 
each member of the fociety, its due and proportional 
weight ; and at the fame time to check in every one, by 
tl)e common intereft and effort of the reft that fort of af- 
cendancy, which might tend to make one part fubfervient 
to the other. The progrefs of party has perhaps contrib- 
uted in feme degree to increafe the preponderance of Vir- 
ginia, in the counfels of our union ; but a man muff have 
taken a very partial view of our late hiftory,not to perceive 
that the concurrence of party politics with Virginian poli- 
cy, is accidental and temporary ; that it cannot long con- 
tinue, and that there is every profpe6: that thofe engines, 
inftead of operating in concert, will foon be in opposition 
to each other. It is not party, but the prefent Conjiitu- 
iion, which has given a folid and permanent increafe to 
the influence of Virginia ; and if this was not forefeen 
when the confl:itution was adopted, it was becaufe confe- 
quences which after the event are found to have been inevi- 
table, and extremely obvious, are often not anticipated, by 
the forefight of the profoundeft ftatefmen. Under the ok; 



4.0 

confederation, every ftate had the fame power in the ad- 
miniftration of the national affairs. Under the prefent 
conftitution, a popular reprefentation was introduced, and 
the moft powerful branch of the Legiflature, was so com- 
pofed, as to give the greateft influence to the ftate of the 
largeft popuhition. I fee nothing in this which ought to 
aifeft or alarm an American patriot ; nor can I fubfcribe 
at all to the opinion that the afcendency of Virginia has be- 
come uncontrolable. 

It is also a great error to reafon upon the hypothecs 
that the State of Virginia as fuch has a fteady, uniform, 
premeditated fyftem of policy, hoftile to the general gov- 
ernment, which (lie conftantly purfues under all the changes 
of her own adminiftration. Mr. Ames gives as little quar- 
ter to Virginia federalifm^ as to Virginia oligarchy. He 
would have us believe that fhe adopted the conftitution, 
only from confiderations of policy, and in the hope of fuc- 
cefs to her intrigues. This is the very wormwood of lo- 
cal jealoufy. 1 he federalifm of Virginia, had at that day 
the same obftacles to encounter as the federalifm of Maf- 
fachufetts. Its objects of purfuit were the fame, and it 
fucceeded by a victory as hardly contefted, and by a ma- 
jority of about the fame proportion. The firft prefident 
of the United States was a native of Virginia ; but it is 
not intimated that during his adminiftration of eight years, 
the ftate of Virginia had an undue afcendency in the gov- 
ernment of the nation. On the contrary, Mr. Ames*s 
great complaint is that ftie was conftantly thwarting and 
counteracting it. At length he fays ftie fatally fucceeded 
in reducing it to the imbecility of the old confederation. 

I ftiall not undertake the tafk of vindicating the pol- 
icy of Virginia, while the government of the ftate was in 
oppofition to the general government. It refembled too 
much that of the prefent rulers of Maifachufetts, to har- 
monize with my ideas of correct conftitutional principles. 
But refleO: upon the tranfiiftions of the Jefferfon adminif- 
tration. Reflect efpecially upon the tranfactions of the 
two laft years. The part of perplexing, of obftru<S:ing. of 
counteracting the meafures of the general government has 
not been performed by Virginia. She has no otherwife 



4.1 

interfered in the affairs of the nation than to pledge herfelf 
in the moft folemn manner, to fupport the national author- 
ities, at a moft perilous crifis of our affairs. The ^^ feleff^ 
and " excluftve" friends of Mr. Ames, have exchanged 
weapons with Virginia. But Virginia in the moft virulent 
extreme of her oppofition never joined the banners of a 
foreign enemy to ftrike the ftandard of the union. 

The ftate policy of Virginia, like that of Maffachu- 
fetts and of every other State in the union, fluduates ac- 
cording to the iffue of her annual elections. In the great 
party divlfion which has pervaded the whole union, and 
which exifted long before the federal conftitution, Vir- 
ginia, like all her- fifters, was divided againft herfelf. 
One effeft of' the conftitution was to new organize thefe 
two parries, and give each of them a rallying point in the 
perfon of one individual. The individual on both Jides^ 
was a native of Virginia. Washington was the leader 
of the federalifts. Jefferson, of the republicans. The 
Vii;ginia reprefentation in Congrefs was always partly fed- 
eral and partly republican. At the fecond prefidential 
election, the vote of Virginia, like that of the other ftates, 
was unanimous for Wafhington. To this day, the Chief 
Jultice of the United States, and another Judge of the Su- 
preme Court, are natives of Virginia, and federalifts. 
Both of them, as well as the prefent Prefident of the Uni- 
ted States, were among the a£live fupporters of the fed- 
eral conftitution, and members of the Virginia State Con- 
vention which adopted it. la the eledion which has jufl 
taken place, four federalifts at leaft, and two or three 
others, as far from the political fyftem of the Prefident, 
as federalifm itielf, have been chofen members of the 
Houfe of Reprefentatives. Shall we be told that all this 
fignifies nothing. That they are all Oligarchs, And that 
all thefe federalijls of Virginia, are moved only by con- 
federations of policy, " and the hope of future fuccefs 
from their intrigues." Such is Mr. Ames's argument. — 
Such is the ftanding dodrine of Iiis felecb and exclufive 
friends. But of all this may be truly predicated, what 
Mr. Ames fays of federalifm — It is all " founded upon a 
miftake." 

F 



42 

The fame diftortion of obje<fts from their real charac- 
ter is apparent in the fecond extract above quoted. The 
amendment of the Conftitutions which exempted the 
States from fuability by individuals, in the courts of the 
Union, is reprefented as having been efFeded by the great 
States of Virginia, Pennfylvania and Neiv-lTork — and as 
having exempted them in form from the obligations of 
Jujiice. 

Why was the odium of a meafure prefented under 
fuch an invidious defcription confined to Virginia^ Pennfyl- 
'vania and Ne^v-l^ork ? Why was not Maffachufetts inclu- 
ded in the number ? Had Mr. Ames forgotten that this 
very amendment was introduced into the Senate of the 
United States by Mr. George Cabot then a Senator from 
the ftate of Maflachufetts ? — Why was the meafure itfelf 
prefented in fuch an invidious light ? Had Mr. Ames for- 
gotten that as a member of the houfe of Reprefentatives 
in Congrefe he had voted for this very amendment him- 
felf ? If he confidered it as a fcheme to exempt States 
from tlie obligation of Jttilice, he ftands felf-condemned 
upon, a cJiarge of no trivial culpability. A charge, of 
which I do not believe him to have been guilty. It is 
not his vote in Congrefs \\i 1794, but his representation 
in J 805, of the meafure for which he had given that vote, 
which difclofes the partial and the prejudiced mind. That 
amendment of the conilitution, was called for by the gen- 
eral fenfe oi the people throughout the union ; its object 
was not to ejcempt the ftates from the obligations of Jujiice, 
but from h^ixg made parties at the fuit of individuals, 
before the courts of the United States. The con- 
clufion to which the argument leads is that a confed- 
eration. Hke that oi the United States is impracticable, 
becaufe the powerful members will not fubmit to the 
laws of the whole body. This opinion is not new ; 
but our experience hitherto has not (hewn its ac- 
curacy. It is the raoft facred duty of the American peo- 
ple, \o continue the proof that a confederated republic of 
many mighty members is a practicable expedient of hu- 
man aflociation — and \t follows as a duty no lefs incum- 
bent upon their ilatesmen and iages, to inculcate fuch 



43 

principles and fuch fentiments, as have a natural tenden- 
cy to give duration and liability to their Union. 

The reflections in the two laft of thefe extrafts upon 
the fouthern and weftern fedions of the Union, are not 
only flagrant examples of that fpirit againft which we 
were fo earneftly admonifhed by the paternal voice of 
Washington ; they are as unfounded as they are un- 
friendly. American patriotism, contemplates with very 
different fenfations the rapid progrefs of thefe fettlcments. 
The aftive enterprize and hardihood of charafter which 
diflinguifhes many of the fettlers ; the rapidity with 
'which population, cultivation, and focial enjoyments are 
conftantly multiplying, with wealth and art, and science 
in their train. To compare our fellow-citizens of the 
fouthern and weftern ftates, with wandering Tartars or 
Indian Hunters, to utter ferioufly the opinion that they 
will probably fink into barbarifm, is a demonftration of 
the moft deplorable blindnefe to the true ftate of things. 
Great numbers of the fettler^ both in the fouth and weft, 
are emigrants from New-England. They are literally 
our children and our brethren. United to us not only 
by the ties of civil fociety, but by tholjs of kindred and 
confanguinity. Were one of their diftinguiftied orators, 
(and orators they have with whom Mr. Ames himfelf 
would not have been difgraced by being compared) to 
affirm that the inhabitants of the atlantic ftates were fink- 
ing faft into piracy and barbarifm ; that they had no 
more patriotifm than Algerines, and were not half fo fond 
of glory; the picture would not be more unkind, nor 
more unlike than that againft which I am here excepting. 

I except againft it the more earneftly, because it is 
one of the moft pernicious and fatal errors for the peo- 
ple of any one part of this union to admit into their minds 
fuch fentiments againft the reft — becaufe, not only the 
publication of this volume but a multitude of news-paper 
eflays, party refolutions, and incendiary pamphlets, with- 
in the laft year have fhewn a fyftematic attempt to diffem- 
inate among the people of New-England this groundlefs 
jealoufy and hatred of the fouthern and weftern people. 
Above all, becaufe the poifon of this fame jealoufy, and 



44 

hatred has been circulated in a late addrefs of the Legifla- 
ture of Maflachufetts to the people of the ftate. It is 
time to fay and to prove that all thefe iiifidious infliga- 
tions againft our own countrymen, are founded on mijlake., 
They expofe us to the merited contempt and fcorn of 
thofe who are thus flandered, and their moll inevitable 
tendency is to excite and provoke that hoftility -which 
they proclaim. Prejudices and partialities exift in every 
part of the union ; but to the difgrace of New-England 
her portion is the firft where mtn diftinguilhed as Mr. 
Ames, and even legiflative papers have given countenance 
and credit to thefe fictions of ignorance aft' ding to be 
wife, and thefe phantoms of vulgar fear, affetling to be 
provident. The legiflative addrefs indeed, after its hour 
of authority has gone by, will be numbered with the dead. 
Its patriotic glories are already withering upon the ftalk. 
But the eloquence of Ames is deft;ined to longer life. 
His genius will ftill be admired, when its fallacious colours 
will be detected at a glance, and lamented as the fading 
yellow of a jaundiced eye. Had his friends valued his 
reputation ; had they been capable of difcarding, for a 
moment, the contracted and fordid paffions of a caucufing 
committee^ they might have compiled from his wri- 
tings and fpeeches a real monument of unfullied fame. 
As it is, they have exhibited him, as the herald of party 
/lander, and the dupe of Britifli impofition. Inftead of 
rifmg with him to hold commerce with the ikies, they 
have funk him to a level with themfelves. 



NUMBER V. 

" Ah Fear ! ah frantic Fear ! 
" I see, I see thee near. 



" LET us affert a genuine independence of fpirit : 
" we fhall be falfe to our duty and feelings as Americans, 
" if we bafeiy defcend to a fervile dependence on France 
*' or Great Britain." p. 57. 



45 

Such was the language of Mr. Ames on the 27th 
January, 1794, and with this juft and honourable fenti- 
ment he clofed his fpeech againfl Mr. Madifon's refolu- 
tions. To this fentiment I now adhere, and in thefe papers 
am endeavouring to defend it againft the goblin terrors of 
Mr. Ames himfelf, and the more dehberate alarms of his 
publilhing friends. 

I'he object of thefe terrors, was compounded of two 
ingredients, which in 1794 had at lead; an appearance of 
congeniality and co operation. French power and democ- 
racy. The alliance between thefe two tremendous mon- 
fters was furely diifolved long before Mr. Ames portrayed 
with fuch poetic powers the dangers of American liberty. 
But although for ever feparated on the fcene of real life, 
they were fllll united in dreadful harmony in the world of 
imaginary fear, and they tortured his fancy, with all their 
horrid fhapes and fights unholy, as the images of the night- 
mare pafs in confufed fuccefTion before the waking flum- 
bers of difeafe. 

The degree to which his underftanding was affected 
by thefe horrible vifions can be defcribed only by himfelf. 
In the " dangers of American liberty," after bitterly com- 
plaining that even among the federalists there were per- 
haj^s not five hundred who allowed themfelves " to view 
the progrefs of licentiousnefs as iofpeedy, fo ftire, and fo 
fatal as the deplorable experience of our country fliews 
it is, and the evidence of hiftory and the conftitution of 
human nature demohftrate that it muji be,'* He apolo- 
gizes for this federal apathy by the following pidlure of his 
own fenfations. 

" Our days are made heavy with the preffure of 
anxiety, and our nights refllefs with vifions of horror. 
We liflen to the clank of chains, and overhear the whif- 
pers of aifaflins. We mark the barbarous diflbnance of 
mingled rage and triumph in the yell of an infatuated 
mob; we feethedifmal glare of their burnings and fcent 
the loathfome fleam of human victims offered in facrifice." 

p. 51. 



46 

A man muft have no ordinary fhare of malice in 
ills compofitlon, who could wifh to fee his direft foe, in 
the ftate of mind indicated by this paragraph. But this 
was not the worfl. There is a fpecies of alienation in the 
intelleQ:, for which the miferies of a temporal life are not 
fufficiently diflreffing. Melancholy derangement often 
terminates in the belief of the unhappy patient that he is 
aftually fuffering the torments of eternity. The frequen- 
cy with which the idea of Hell returns in the latter com- 
pofitions of this volume, conne£led with French conqueft 
and democratic triumph affords too ftrong prefumption 
that the natural tendency of the auther's diilemper was to- 
that iffue. 

" It (Democracy) is an illuminated Hell that in the 
midfl of remorfe, horror and torture, rings with feflivity ; 
for experience fhows, that one joy remains to this mofl 
malignant defcription of the damned, the power to make 
others wretched." p. 432. 

By comparing this paragraph with one written fome 
years earlier, we fhall perceive that one Hell, was as 
inadequate to the immenfity of Mr, Ames* fears, as one 
world was to that of Alexander's ambition. There was 
the " Hell" France, and the " Hell" Democracy. 

" Behold France, that open Hell, ftill ringing with 
agonies and blafpheraies, ftill fmoking with fufferings and 
crimes, in which we fee their ftate of torment, and perhaps 
2Dur future ftate." Laocoon />. 97. 

This was written in 1799, when there remained in 
the writer's mind fome hopes that we might poflibly efcape 
thefe infernal regions. But in 1 805, thefe hopes were aH 
cxtinguiftied, and to Hell we muft go. For immediately 
after the paffage which pronounces Democracy to be Hell, 
comes a defeription of the French Revolution in the au- 
thor's moft glowing manner, and which he clofes by fay- 
ing, " I have written the hiftory of France. Can we look 
back upon it without terror, or forward without def 



47 

When I confider the ftate of heahh In which thefe 
things were written, I cannot but feel a fentiment of com- 
paflion for the fufferings of the author, which checks the 
dispofition, almofl: irrefiflible to prefent them in the 
ludicrous light which would be moft appropriate to 
them. 

The fame indulgence, however, is by no means necef- 
fary for the editors who have publilhed thefe political 
fpafms to the world for political wifdom. When Mr. 
Ames flirieks out, 

" Looi^, look, fellow-countrymen, as we do, to your 
"^' dear, innocent children. Afk your hearts, if they can 
" bear fo racking a queftion, whether a (hallow confidence 
" in our unarmed fecurity againft Bonaparte, in cafe Great 
" Britain fhould fall, does not tend to devote them to the 
*' rage of a reftlefs, unappeafable tyrant. We tremble at 
*' the thought that our own dear children will be in Bona- 
** parte's confcription for St. Domingo, in cafe the Galli- 
*' can policy of our government Ihould be purfued, till its 
*' natural tendencies are accomplilhed," We remember 
that thefe were among the lad flutterings of a nervous fyf- 
tem in ruins. But when upon this paflage we find a note 
at the bottom of the page, informing the reader that Mr. 
Ames " could fcarcely fpeak of his children, duriug the 
loft few months of his life, without exprefling his deep ap- 
preheniions of their future fervitude to the French,** We 
aik whether the annotator means it as a farcafm upon the 
pafTage, or a recommendation of the fentiment it contains ? 

We are told by the biographical eulogift that Mr. 
Ames had read Virgil, in the original, within two years of 
his death with increafed delight. How much is it to be 
lamented that the admirable mixture of philofophy and 
of poetry in the Georgicks had not produced the effect of 
compofing his mind to fome portion of tranquillity. 

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere eavssas : 

Atque metus omnis et inexvrahile fatum 

Subjccii pedibus, strepitumqiie Acherontit aimtii 

Ilium non populi fciscet, nan ptfrpura regtun 
Fltxi), et i/iviJos agitant distftrdia fratres : 
Aut co'ijurato detccndens Dacus ab Hiitrej, 
Non r "J Rvmenue perituraqus regtiu. 



48 

"> The fenfe of this paffage, fo appofite to the direful la- 
mentations of Mr. Ames, may be rendered more accurate- 
ly by a paraphrafe than by any exifting tranflation — the 
followmg will convey the fubflance of the ideas : 

How blest the man, whose philosophic mind 

The real c.iuscs of events can find ! 

Who spurns base fear, defies the bolt of chance. 

Nor raves of Hell, Democracy and France. 

Not royal robes, not faction's fearful name, 

Not yearly suffrage shall convulse his frame. 

His dreams no shape of Bonaparte scares. 

His children s lunbs no phantom Frenchman tcau 

Unmov'd he views the tyrant's transient sway, 

And smiles at iron crowns and empires of a day. 

This, however, was not the good fortune of Mr. 
Ames. The extracts in this paper, are but a few, out of 
many, which, from an attentive perufal might be colleft- 
ed, and which indicate the flate of his mind, when 
they were written. It was a proverbial expreflion among 
the ancients, that " fear was a bad counfellor," and cer- 
tainly so it proved to Mr. Ames. For it totally broke 
down that " genuine independence of fpirit," which in 
his fpeech againft Mr. Madifon's refolutions in 1794, he 
had called upon us to aifert. 

It was this fear, which, mingling with the contempt 
he felt for his own countrymen, drove his imagination to 
the Britilli navy, as the only hope of falvation^lP man- 
kind from the Tartarus of France and demo^^pcy. In 
fixing the attention of the reader on thefe particular paf- 
fages, to which I Ihall confine this paper, I willi him to in- 
dulge me with a few remarks, which I fliall make as 
fhort as poiTiblc, and leave them to his own meditations, 

Firji — Exceffive terror is a fentiment as unworthy of 
a great flatefman, as it is unbecoming in a man. As a ba- 
fis for a politic&l fyfliem, it is utterly incompatible with 
any pretention to independence. 

Secondly — A man may perhaps be allowed to fear^ 
more for his children than for himfelf ; but he ought to 
bring them up in the fear of nothing but of God. To teach 
pufillanimity by rule, is to make your children daftards, if 
they were not born fuch. In Corneille*s tragedy of the 
Horatii, when the meffenger informs, the father that two of 



49 

his fons had. been killed and the third had Jied, he breaks 
out, not into lamentations over the dead, but into indig- 
nation againft the fugitive furvivor ; and when afked what 
he would have had him do, one againft three, his anfwer is 
— " he fhould have died.^^ I'his is the fublinie of fenti- 
ment. The contraft in the extract from Mr. Ames may 
ferve as a fample of the anti-fublime. 

American parents ! inftead of alking your hearts, 
whether your children are to be refcued from Bona- 
parte's confcription by the Briiijh Navy, teach your chil- 
dren, if it fliould be neceffary, to die for their country. 
Take your leflbn of parental affeftion as well as of patri- 
otic virtue, from Corneille's Roman, and not from the 
faithlefs friends, who have divulged the weaknefs of Mr. 
Ames's laft hours. 



NUMBER VI. 

IN my laft paper, I prefented feveral extra6te, de*> 
monftrating the revolution which had been effected in the 
mind of Mr. Ames, between the year 1 794, when his 
found head and honeft heart difdained a fervile depend- 
ence either upon Britain or France, and the defpairing 
period of 1 808, when the Britifh navy was his only hope 
of redemption from the Hells of France and democracy. It 
might perhaps be an entertaining, and not altogether an 
uninftrudive inquiry, by what procefs and by means of 
what agency this revolution was accompliftied — But this 
is not neceffary to my prefent purpofe. 

The opinion that nothing but the Britifh navy can 
fave us from the dominion of Bonaparte, is one of the 
thirty-nine articles of the feleft and exclufive church — 
And as, in comparifon with it, tranfubftantiation is a ra- 
tional and intelligible doctrine, it was neceffary to mark 
the gradations of fear and horror, of France, and the 
tranfitions from patriotic affection to unutterable con- 
tempt for our own country, which preceded the intrufion 
of this glaring abfurdity, into a mind fo capacious of bet- 
ter things, as that of Mr. Ames. 

G 



50 

I compare it to tranfubilantiation, becaufe it contains 
within itfelf an inconfiftency ; the mere ftatement of the 
pofition is its refutation — American Independence, depend- 
ent upon a Britifli navy ! — Nor is the inconfiftency in the 
word only — It is rooted in the thing. The independence 
of a nation muft reft upon its own energies, and you 
might as' well talk of the liberties of an African flave, as 
of the freedom of one nation fupported by nothing but 
the power of another. 

It is in its nature a principle of fervile dependence — 
And if the fa6t were so — if the people of this nation were 
fo utterly debafed beneath the name and charader of 
manhood as Mr. Ames has declared them to be ; if. 
" we are of all men on earth the fitteft to be flaves," 
of what consequence is it whether we are the flaves of 
French or Britifli mafters ? 

Quid refert mea 
Cui seiviani, clitelias dum portem meas ? 

If the people of this Union were reduced to that de 
plorable condition of having only to deliberate " whofe 
bafe herd they would be" — ftill it would be incumbent 
upon thofe who prefer the domination of Britain to that 
of France, to fliew that the Britifli yoke would be the ea- 
fieft — that the protection of the Britifli navy would be a 
fafe reliance — that by redemption from the Hell of France, 
we fliould have a Paradife regained in Britain. Upon 
this fubjed let us look at what has been pafllng in the 
world, from the commencement of the French revolution. 
Within the laft fifteen years there is not a nation in Eu- 
rope, excepting France and Denmark, but has had the 
promife of Britifli proteftion, and the curfe of a Britifli 
alliance— not one of them but has been plunged by it in- 
to the jaws of perdition. And, what ought not to have 
efcaped the attention of an American ftatefman, it has in 
the refult made them all dependent upon France. The 
uniform courfe has been this : Britain firft inftigates them 
to unfurl their banners againft her enemy ; forms her 
alliance with them ; makes them fight her battles j I'acri- 
fices them to her own projeds of naval dominion or for- 



5' 

-eign conqueft, and ends by abandoning them to the mer- 
cy of an exafperated and vidorious foe. AVhen fhe 
has thus made them the helplefs victims of her own treach- 
ery, and of France's refentment, die feldom fails to turn 
againfl: them her own thunders, and Hke the Prince of 
Darknefs, becomes the final tormentor of thofe whom 
fhe firft feduced. This is the procefs through which the 
Spanifh patriots are pafling at this hour. It is the courfe 
through which Sweden is paffing. It is the courfe 
through which the people of this Union would beyond nil 
^queftion now be pafling, if the government of the na~ 
tion had been in the hands of the political feft who be- 
lieve in thefe doctrines. 

If our nominal independence of France refted upon 
no bther foundation of power than the navy of Englandj 
the consequence would be that we fhould again be under 
the domination of England. Her argument would be 
that in all reafon we ought to contribute our fhare to fup- 
port the expense of protedling us, and we fhould foon be cal- 
led upon for our contribution of men, as well as of money. 
This is not fpeculative anticipation — in fa£l both thefe 
pretenfions have been advanced. The tribute claimed, 
and in one inftance levied, under the orders in council, 
was an undifguifed attempt to renew the projeft of taxa- 
tion upon America, which fevered this continent from the 
Britifh empire. The king's proclamation of Odober, 1 SO? 
was an open authorization and command to his naval offi- 
cers to imprefs hisfubjecls, from American merchant vef- 
fels — and of the queilion who was or was not his fubjedl:, 
the man-ftealer himfelf was to be the only judge. With 
thefe two principles once eflablilhed by our admiflion or 
acquiefcence, no treaty of furrender, no articles of capitu- 
lation would be necelTary to give to Great Britain an ar- 
bitrary control over the perfons and property of Ameri- 
cans, for contribution to fupport her wars. Our blood 
and treafure would both be at her difpofal — more rigor- 
ous than Nahafh the Ammonite with the men of Jabefli- 
Gilead, the token by which alone fhe would make a cove- 
nant with us was, that we fhould firfl: let her thruft our 
both our e\eu 



52 

American independence muft reft upon the founda- 
tion of American valor and American patriotifm. — Such 
is the eternal law of God and of nature. If the generous 
purpofe of republican virtue is extinguifhed in the fordid 
felfifhnefs of avarice ; if the fathers who fuffered unfubdu- 
ed the conflagrations of Charleftown and Falmouth, of 
Fairfield and New-London, of Efopus and Norfolk, who 
Ihed their blood in battle, and endured the lingering 
martyrdom of prifon-fhips and dungeons for the liberties 
of their country : if thefe fathers have begotten fons fo 
degenerate as not to " reluft at the name and condition of 
fielots," to figh for the protedion of the Britifli navy is 
to hang the load of Atlas upon the thread of a fpider's 
web. What is the Britifh navy ? Wood — and hemp — 
and iron — and what are thefe without the nerve of the 
Britifh arm, and the fire of the Britifh heart ? Inert, pafTive, 
obedient ??iaiier. That arm and heart belong to Britain, 
and not to us. Enough have they to do to proteO: and 
defend their own ifland. But is the American , fmew 
more flaccid, is the American heart lefs ardent than thofe 
of Britons ? Alas ! it was the mifery of Mr. Ames's mala- 
dy, fo to believe ; it is the folly of his pretended friends 
fo to publifh ! In him it was lamentable error — In them it 
Is the mofl inexcufable of calumnies, the calumny of their 
own countrymen. 

No, we are not that herd of fervile ufurers, that den 
of daftardly jackalls which we are thus reprefented to be. 
We have no ambitious wifh for war, no paflion for foreign 
conquefl ; and of courfe no fliallow love of needlefs ar- 
mies and navies. Our very love of liberty fortifies, and 
perhaps carries to excefs our jealousies of these double- 
edged weapons, which might be brandifhed inward againft 
ourfelvcs as well as outward againft our foreign foes. — 
But the unconquerable will which carried us through all 
the trials of the revolutionary war remains unimpaired, 
and when called into adion by the unequivocal voice of 
the country, fhines with undiminiflied luftre. The names 
«^f Truxton, Little, and Preble, are as glorious to our re- 
public as thofe of the naval heroes of the revolution, and 
fhe annals of Roman hiftory cannot furnifh a fairer page 



'53 

than that to which the heroic devotion of Wadfworth, 
Somers, Ifrael and Decatur is entitled. These are the 
models of American charafter in the prefent age ; and if 
the examples which they have exhibited to their country- 
men are rare, it is only becaufe by the blefling of God the 
occafions to call them forth have been few. 

Some of the extrafts in my lafl: paper were felefted 
from an elaborate attempt to prove that in this country 
there is not, and cannot, in the nature of things, be any 
fuch thing as patriotifm. The whole paffage is too long 
for felection ; but may be found in the volume, from the 
middle of page 412 to the clofe of page 414. I fhall not 
here prefs the fubje^l any farther. I fhall forbear to fhew, 
as with the greateft eafe might be done, that both in point 
of argument and of fa6t, it is but the " bafelefs fabric of a 
vifion" — But to exhibit the cojiiparative flate of affedions in 
which Great Britain and America ftand in the hearts of 
thofe who furniflied the raw material of the author's lu- 
cubrations, I requeft the unbiafled reader to refle£l upon 
the following paflage. 

" Great Britain, by being an illand, is fecured from 
foreign conqueft ; and by having a powerful enemy with- 
in fight of her fhore, is kept in fufficient dread of it to be 
infpired with patriotifm. That virtue, with all the fervour 
and elevation that a fociety which mixes fo much of 
the commercial with the martial fpirit can difplay, has 
other kindred virtues in its train ; and thefe have had an 
influence in forming the habits and principles of aftion, not 
only of the Englifh military and nobles, but of the mafsof 
the nation. There is much, therefore, there is every 
thing IN THAT ISLAND to blend felf-love with love of 
country. It is impoffible, that an Englifhman (hould have 
fears for the government without trembling for his own 
fafety. Koiv different are thefe fentiments from the immova- 
ble apathy of thofe citizens, who think a confiitution no better 
than any other piece oj paper ^ nor fo good as a blank on which 
a more perfed one could be written.''' p. 427. 

Let it be remarked that Mr. Ames in this place, and 
in the other to which 1 have referred the reader, appears 



54 

to confider fear as exclufively the primary foundation of 
patriotifm ; and every other fource from which this vir- 
tue may be fuppofed to derive, he feems to confider as 
merely a theme of hypocritical declamation. I will not 
recur to any fuppofition of benevolence, independent of 
felfifti motives, as exifling in the heart of man ; from 
which fome portion of patriotic feeling might originate. 
But furely fear is not the only principle of focial attraction. 
The fenfe of common rights^ of common enjoyments, of 
common moral and political principles, of congenial habits, 
manners, fentiments and even prejudices, the inflinft of 
attachment to our natinje land* the love of fame, which, 
though an individual paffion, identifies itfelf fo naturally 
with the love of our country, mnbition, which an accurate 
and clofe obferver, will find burning in the American 
breafl more fiercely than that avarice, which flrikes the 
fuperficial eye ; the obligation of focial duty, which Mr, 

* 1 am aware that this is one of the feelings which cold metaphysics will dis- 
claim or deride ; and which Mr. Ames would not allow as a source of patriot- 
ism. But upon questions of feeling we may appeal from abstraction to poetry. 
This sentiment of attachment to the land of our nativity is painted with some of 
the most exquisite touches of nature in Wieland's Oberon. — The hero of the po- 
em and his squire Sherasmin, are riding along the banks of Euphrates, in silencCj 
and the thoughts of each of them are represented as dwdling on the distant ob- 
jects of their delight. 

While in imaginary joy, the knight 

Clasps to his breast, the bride, thus dearly won, 

Steals unawares the old man's raptur'd sight 

Forth from Euphrates to his dear Garonne, • 

"Where first his childhood cull'd the flower's delight — 

" No — thinks he — nowhere does God's blessed Sun 

So mildly shine as where by me first seen — 

No meadow blooms so gay — so fresh no other green 



Thou little spot, where light first on me shoHe, 
Where my first pang, my earliest joy I knew. 
What though remote, unnotic'd and unknown, 
Yet shall my heart, to thee for ever true, 
Still drawn by secret ties to thee alone, 
E'en Paradise as exile from thee view. 
Oh ! prove but true at least my boding mind — 
O lay me in thy lap, amid my sires reclin'd." 

Oberon, Book 4, st, 21, 22. The last Una 
is from Sotheby's translation. 

Deny, or sneer at these sentiments, who will — they will find an echo in every 
honest heart, and true philosophy will recognize in them some of the most pow- 
rrful impulses to patriotism 



55 

Ames certainly fuppofed himfelf to feel, and which there^ 
fore in candour he ought to admit as one impulfe of ac- 
tion in others, all thefe are fources of patriotifm, far more 
copious, as well as far more noble, than his miferable 
dread of being conquered. 

But it is the contrafl of feeling in the heart of the 
writer, (or rather of his inftigators) between Great Brit- 
ain and America, manifefted in this and many other 
places, which demands the unqualified reprobation of 
every virtuous American. It is the preference of a 
foreign country to his own, fo undifguifed, fo glaring, 
and reding upon fuch falfe foundations, upon which I call 
the eye of the nation ; not for the paltry purpofe of affed- 
ing his reputation, but to put the country upon their 
guard againjfl the machinations and intrigues of the men 
Whofe politics are governed by the fame narrow views and 
the fame vicious pafTions. I have given this extrad as a 
fpecimen, but there is fcarce'.y a page after the firft hun- 
dred in this volume, but bears the marks of the fame 
fentiment — -fcarcely a page but proves that with the 
idea of Great Britain, every aifociated idea, was ef» 
teem, love, veneration, idolatry— while every thought af- 
fociated with that of America was bitterness and rancour, 
mingling with difgufl and fcorn. 

_ I might multiply the proofs of thefe anti^patriotic preju- 
dices, until this review Ihould fwell beyond the fize of the 
volume itfelf. But|piething muft be left to the judg- 
ment and underftandBg of the reader. I fhall therefore 
only prefent the following palfages in final proof of the 
pofitions I have advanced, and if they leave incredulity 
Itfelf unconvinced, only alk him who defires more accu- 
mulation of evidence to the fame point, to read the book. 
" In that en/laved country (Britain) every executive 
attempt at ufurpation has been fpiritedly and perfevering- 
ly refilled, and fubftantial improvements have been made 
m the conftitutional provifions for liberty. Witnefs the 
habeas corpus, the independence of ^the judges, and the 
perfeBion, if any tlnng human is perfea, of their adminiftra- 
tion of juftice, the refult of the famous Middlefex eleftion, 
and that on the right of iffuing general fearch warrants' 



56 



Jmit. 



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Let every citizen who is able to thinks and who can bear the 
pain of thinking, make the contrast at his leisure. 

p. 429. 
" For our part we deem her (Britain's) grandeur 
intrinfic, the fair fruit of her conflitution, her juftice, her 
arts, and her magnanimity. p, 376. 

" The world's mailer allows no neutrality. In fa£l 
there are no neutrals. The maritime law fuppofes a foci- 
ety of nations bound together by reciprocal rights and 
duties. That fociety is diflblved ; and it is chi?nerical, if 
not unwarrantable for the United States to claim fingly 
the aggregated and fuppofed refiduary rights devolved 
upon us by the departed nations. The old fyflem is gone ; 
and /'/ is a mockery, or worfe, for one nation to affeft to 
reprefent a dozen once independent flates, now fwallow- 
ed up by a conqueror. Ambition will violate our moon' 
fhine rights ; and if we fubmit to his decrees, we ourfelves 
violate our neutral duties. What tyranny will do in con- 
tempt of right, felf prefervation permits the other bellige- 
rent to do in ftrict conformity with it. Where, then, is 
neutrality ? Llt us be ashamed of a petulent 

STRIFE ABOUT LOST AND IRRECOVERABLE PRETEN- 
SIONS." p. 377. 

Gracious Heaven ! is this the language of an Ameri- 
can ? — Of a New-England man ? And is this the patriot- 
ifm which animated the lad year's«j^egiflature of Maffa- 
chufetts ? Yes— thefe are the principles upon which the 
fupreme authority of the ftate called with fuch importu- 
nate outcry upon the government of the Union to un- 
furl the republican banners againft the imperial llandard. 
— Thefe are the doctrines which in 1 809, are publifhed in 
the metropolis of Maffachufetts — for patriotism ! 



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